Sugarcane cultivar genetic gains for coastal agro-ecological regions of South Africa

Cultivar genetic gains quantify the increase in productivity from release of cultivars and measure genetic improvements from plant breeding. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the genetic gains from sugarcane coastal cultivars and evaluate their contribution to productivity. Data were derived from replicated plant breeding and post-release variety evaluation trials conducted by the South Africa Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) from 1996 to 2020. There were significant cultivar differences for cane yield, sucrose content, sugar yield, fibre % and purity %. Significant analyses of cultivar by location, cultivar by crop-year and cultivar by location by crop-year indicate further optimisation of cultivar disposition is needed to increase productivity. Cultivar genetic gains were found for cane yield (0.19–0.48 t ha−1), sucrose content (0.01–0.02%), sugar yield (0.03–0.07 t ha−1 per year), fibre % cane (0.04–0.06%) and purity % (0.02–0.04%), highlighting the increased yield and quality from genetic improvement. The best cultivars produced 8–22% higher sugar yields than popular cultivars indicating that planting high yield cultivars did increase yields. Sugar cane production declined at a slower rate than area planted, also showing the benefit of high yield cultivars. Increasing the area planted to new, higher yielding cultivars will increase sugar yields for coastal regions of South Africa.