Sugarcane Improvement Through Breeding

This book is a comprehensive survey of breeding principles and practices employed by sugarcane growers and researchers throughout the world. Included within its scope are important genera and species concepts, morphological information, clarification of certain generic names, a description of germplasm collection and utilization, discussion of the complex issues involved in genetic manipulation, and a summary of sugarcane improvement through breeding over the past century. The book is compiled so that information proceeds from the general to the specific. Basic concepts of evolution, taxonomy, morphology, and anatomy form the groundwork for information regarding germplasm collection, cyto-genetics, genetics, and flowering. Methods of practical application are presented in the ensuing chapters, which deal with hybridization, tissue culture, seed handling, selection criteria, and breeding for tolerance. Figures, tables, and photographs accompany text where appropriate. All key words are indexed and extensive bibliographies follow each chapter.

Plant Breeding Reviews presents state-of-the-art reviews on plant genetics and the breeding of all types of crops by both traditional means and molecular methods. Many of the crops widely grown today stem from a very narrow genetic base; understanding and preserving crop genetic resources is vital to the security of food systems worldwide. The emphasis of the series is on methodology, a fundamental understanding of crop genetics, and applications to major crops. It is a serial title that appears in the form of one or two volumes per year.

The fast-growing sugarcane plant is a major source of sugar (sucrose) in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The high productivity of the plant also makes it a key target for use as an energy crop. The fiber of the plant is used to generate electricity and produce ethanol as a fuel.Sugarcane is a hybrid of two species, each of which is genetically c

This book provides exhaustive information on several recent technologies that are employed for sugarcane improvement through biotechnology and will be of great interest to plant scientists, biotechnologists, molecular biologists and breeders who work on sugarcane crop. Topics discussed in this volume include genomics and transcriptomics, transgenic sugarcane for trait improvement, potential candidate promoters, new strategies for transformation, molecular farming, sugarcane as biofuel, chloroplast transformation, and genome editing.

Since the first transgenic plants were produced back in the early 1980s, there have been substantial developments towards the genetic engineering of most crops of our world. Initial studies using isolated plant cells and removing their cell walls to form protoplasts, offered the possibility of transferring genetic material by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer, chemical agents or electrical charges. However, in those cases were isolated protoplasts could be transformed, often, a shoot regeneration system was not available to induce the production of transgenic plants and any such regenerated plants were subject to mutation or chromosomal of cultured plant organs, such as leaf abnormalities. By the mid-1980s, the use disks, offered the convenience of combining gene transfer, plant regeneration and selection of transformants in a single system. This approach, enabled the production of stable, phenotypically-normal, transgenic potato and tomato plants in culture. By the late 1980s, the use of biolistics offered a means of inserting foreign genes into plant cells which where inaccessible to Agrobacterium infection. Even today, this technology is now standard practice for the production of some transgenic plants.

Ethanol as an alternative fuel is receiving a lot of attention because it addresses concerns related to dwindling oil supplies, energy independence, and climate change. The majority of the ethanol in the US is produced from corn starch. With the US Department of Energy’s target that 30% of the fuel in the US is produced from renewable resources by 2030, the anticipated demand for corn starch will quickly exceed the current production of corn. This, plus the concern that less grain will become available for food and feed purposes, necessitates the use of other feedstocks for the production of ethanol. For the very same reasons, there is increasing research activity and growing interest in many other biomass crops. Genetic Improvement of Bio-Energy Crops focuses on the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, which includes corn stover, biomass from dedicated annual and perennial energy crops, and trees as well as a number of important biomass crops. The biomass is typically pretreated through thermochemical processing to make it more amenable to hydrolysis with cellulolytic enzymes. The enzymatic hydrolysis yields monomeric sugars that can be fermented to ethanol by micro-organisms. While much emphasis has been placed on the optimization of thermo-chemical pretreatment processes, production of more efficient hydrolytic enzymes, and the development of robust microbial strains, relatively little effort has been dedicated to the improvement of the biomass itself.

Physiology of Sugarcane looks at the development of a suite of well-established and developing biofuels derived from sugarcane and cane-based co-products, such as bagasse. Chapters provide broad-ranging coverage of sugarcane biology, biotechnological advances, and breakthroughs in production and processing techniques. This single volume resource brings together essential information to researchers and industry personnel interested in utilizing and developing new fuels and bioproducts derived from cane crops.