Gains From Family and Visual Selection in Sugarcane, Particularly for Heavily Lodged Crops in the Burdekin Region

摘要

In the Burdekin region, sugarcane is grown under irrigation, resulting in large and frequently lodged crops, which prohibit visual selection. The effectiveness of family selection in original seedings followed by visual selection in the young ratoon crop was investigated for this region. Family selection basee on the selection index, net merit grade (NMG), was effective in identifying families with a high proportion of elite clones (clones that combine good cane yield and sugar content). However, elite clones could also be identified in families with relatively poor performance, so that any form of family selection would have to be liberal. combined family and visual selection was even more effective than family selection alone, and visual selection was effective in identifying elite clones in both the good and relatively poor families. Gain from family selection was consistent up to a selection rate of 30