Biotechnology to Enhance Sugarcane Productivity and Stress Tolerance

Kalpana Sengar

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781032095820
• eBook ISBN: 9781351648806
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Sugarcane is the most important plant source for sugar and alcohol production and is cultivated in more than 80 countries in tropical and subtropical areas. However, environmental factors negatively influence its yield and jeopardize the prospect to meet the increasing demand for sugar, other sugarcane derived by products and bioethanol. The development of stress tolerant plants is fundamental for the maintenance and increase of crop yields. Biotechnology to Enhance Sugarcane Productivity and Stress Tolerance provides a comprehensive account of both theoretical and practical aspects of sugarcane production. It contains extensive coverage of genome mapping and molecular breeding in sugarcane and presents the status of the elucidation and improvement of plant genomes of economic interest.

Through 14 chapters written by eminent scientists with global influence, this book examines various methods for sugarcane improvement through biotechnology. The book focuses on genetic and physical mapping, positioning, cloning, and monitoring of desirable genes using biotechnological approaches for high sugarcane productivity and the development of stress tolerance. Additional information includes the bioengineering of sugarcane, procedures to boost productivity, genetics and assessments for resistance to drought and salinity, genetics for high yields, and various topics of research on sugarcane genetics. It serves as a detailed reference source for cane growers, sugar and sugarcane technologists, students, and professors.

oneBiotechnological approachA new dimension for sugarcane improvement

Gauri A. Nerkar, Madhavi V. Purankar, Suman Sheelavantmath, and Rachayya M. Devarumath

Introduction

Sugarcane productivity and how it is affected by stress

Sugarcane productivity

Stress and its impact on sugarcane productivity

Impact of abiotic stress on sugarcane productivity

Impact of biotic stress on sugarcane productivity

Development of stress-tolerant plants through in vitro selection and mutation breeding

Marker-assisted selection for stress-tolerant varieties of sugarcane

Genetic engineering for developing biotic- and abiotic-resistant transgenic lines of sugarcane

Genomics for stress tolerance in sugarcane

Genomics for biotic stress tolerance

Genomics for abiotic stress tolerance

Involvement of sugarcane microRNA in stress responses

Concluding remarks

References

Introduction

Sugarcane is the highest yielding crop worldwide and accounts for ~80% of the sugar (sucrose) production in the world (Nayak et al., 2014; Zhou et al., 2016). The genus falls in the tribe Andropogoneae in the grass family Poaceae. The tribe includes other tropical grasses such as Sorghum and Zea (maize). Very closely related to Saccharum are another four genera (Erianthus section Ripidium, Miscanthus section Diandra, Narenga and Sclerostachya) that readily interbreed, forming what is now commonly referred to as the Saccharum complex (Daniels and Roach, 1987). The polyploid-aneuploid (unbalanced number of chromosomes) nature of these genera creates a challenge for the taxonomist (Daniels and Roach, 1987; Sreenivasan et al., 1987). The genus Saccharum comprises six species: S. barberi, S. edule, S. officinarum, S. robustum, S. sinense and S. spontaneum (Daniels and Roach, 1987). Of these, S. officinarum (the domesticated sugar-producing species) and S. spontaneum (a vigorous wild species with many aneuploidy forms) are thought to be the ancestors of cultivated sugarcane. S. officinarum originally derived from S. robustum, while S. barberi and S. sinense are thought to have been derived by crossing S. officinarum and S. spontaneum (Asano et al., 2004; Sandhu et al., 2012). However, Irvine (1999) suggested that there are only two true species – S. officinarum and S. spontaneum – and therefore, current sugarcane commercial cultivars are thought to be hybrids with 80% to 90% of the genome from S. officinarum and 10% to 20% of the genome from S. spontaneum (Grivet et al., 1996; Hoarau et al., 2002). The chromosome number of these species ranges from 40 to 200 (Asano et al., 2004). Genetic improvement of sugarcane through conventional breeding programmes is difficult because of the polyploid and aneuploid nature of the genus Saccharum.

As a relatively recently domesticated species, sugarcane exhibits little of the available genetic diversity having been incorporated or actively analysed for introgression into domesticated varieties (Dillon et al., 2007; Sreenivasan et al., 1987), and breeding programs in the early 1900s focused on hybridization of S. officinarum clones, but quickly progressed to interspecific crosses incorporating S. spontaneum. This resulted in improved agronomic traits, such as tilling, stand and trashiness abilities, ratooning and disease resistance, but required a backcrossing program to S. officinarum, called ‘nobilization,’ to elevate the sucrose content (Dillon et al., 2007; Edmé et al., 2005). Since then, the majority of breeding programs have focused on intercrossing between the hybrids, though in recent decades the larger increases in genetic gains have been made by incorporating more diverse ge...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the book
• Preface
• Editor
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 Biotechnological approachA new dimension for sugarcane improvement
• Chapter 2 Molecular mapping techniquesApplication for the development of stress-tolerant sugarcane
• Chapter 3 Coding the non-coding small RNA elements in sugarcane environmental responses
• Chapter 4 BiotechniquesQuest for stress-tolerant sugarcane
• Chapter 5 Biotechnological interventions to overcome the effect of climate change in sugarcane production
• Chapter 6 Abiotic stress tolerance in sugarcane using genomics and proteomics techniques
• Chapter 7 Insights into biotechnological interventions for sugarcane improvement
• Chapter 8 Potential applications of molecular markers for genetic diversity and DNA fingerprinting in sugarcane
• Chapter 9 Prospects of non‑conventional approaches for sugarcane improvement
• Chapter 10 Sugarcane biotechnology towards abiotic stress toleranceDrought and salinity
• Chapter 11 Prospects of biotechnological tools in boosting sugarcane production
• Chapter 12 Proline metabolism as sensors of abiotic stress in sugarcane
• Index