Increasing competition in the world sugar industry, combined with the need to maintain the resource base and minimise negative impacts on the environment, mean that sugar industries around the world face many complex problems. These challenges are shared by many other intensive cropping industries. However, advances in crop physiology, biotechnology, management systems, systems analysis and modeling and economics and policy initiatives offer great opportunities for these industries to meet these challenges. This book appraises the current situation and set the agenda for sustainable sugarcane production into the future. The book has been developed from papers presented at the Sugar 2000 symposium held in Brisbane, Australia, in August 1996. All the elements of successful intensive crop production are discussed. These include the biological, climatic, economic and social aspects which must be taken into account and judiciously managed. Topics addressed include new gene technologies and their potential value for sugarcane, along with using knowledge of crop physiology to bring about high levels of yield. Other issues considered include the economics of resource use, such as irrigation, and the impact of sugarcane production on the environment. The book is essential reading for all research scientists working with sugarcane, including plant breeders, physiologists, agronomists and food technologists. It also provides general agronomists with a model system for intensive crop production that will be relevant to other sustainable cropping systems. It is also relevant to economists, regulatory authorities, and commodity traders.

The sugarcane crop, one of the most important crops commercially grown in about 115 countries of the world, faces a number of problems, such as low cane productivity, biotic and abiotic stresses, high cost of cultivation, postharvest losses, and low sugar recovery. This volume addresses these issues and provides a comprehensive account of the major advancements in sugarcane research. The book is compilation of recent achievements in sugarcane development and cultivation. It covers a number of improvements made in cane and sugar yield using both conventional and new biotechnological approaches by agricultural scientists and researchers. The comprehensive coverage includes sustainable sugarcane cultivation, development, and management of sugarcane production, covering farming and biotechnology, entomology, pathology, breeding, physiology, biotechnology, agronomy, seed production, and more. It also presents research on modern crop production methods in a comprehensive and easily understood manner. With chapters from expert researchers from internationally renowned institutes (primarily in India), the volume presents the latest information from the literature at the international level to make it usable to many agroecological regions of the world. It will be a valuable resource for agronomists, breeders, plant physiologists, farmers, and students of agricultural sciences.

This volume is intended for reference by the commercial sugar cane grower. Disciplines are covered for the successful production of a sugar cane crop. A number of good books exist on field practices related to the growing of sugar cane. Two examples are R.P. Humbert's The Growing of Sugar Cane and Alex G. Alexander's Sugarcane Physiology. Volumes of technical papers, produced regularly by the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, are also a source of reference. Perhaps foremost, local associations, such as the South African Sugar Technologists' Association, do excellent work in this regard. In my forty-five years of experience with the day-to-day problems of producing a satisfactory crop of sugar cane, deciding what should be done to produce such a crop was not straightforward. Although the literature dealing with specific subjects is extensive, I tried to consolidate some of the material to provide the man in the field with information, or an overview of the subject matter.

This edited volume focuses on the core aspects of sugarcane production-management under stressful environments as well as innovative strategies for augmenting crop growth & productivity through intrinsic and extrinsic manipulations. The various chapters aim at bringing out comprehensive and advance information on different aspects of sugarcane cultivation under stress environments and impact of climate change on the sustainability of sugarcane production. The book encompasses information about crop production management, physiological & nutritional requirements, ratooning, ripening and post-harvest losses management. It also delineates various technologies that support the continued use and improvement of sugarcane as renewable source of food, fiber and bio-energy. The manipulations at cellular and molecular levels, molecular breeding approaches and post-harvest technologies are also included. The area under sugarcane cultivation is gradually increasing because of its diversification potential. The high productivity and biomass of the cane crop also makes it a key source for use as bio-energy crop and a promising raw material for bio-based agro-industries. However, poor crop & biomass productivity due to abiotic stress is the foremost constraint in its future commercial exploitation as sustainable feed-stock for bio-based industries. It is therefore imperative to understand the cellular-molecular modulation responsible to productivity barrier under specific stress situation(s) for better sugarcane quality and quantum under field condition. Some of these innovative approaches are delineated in this book. This book is of interest to progressive sugarcane growers, millers, industrial entrepreneurs, sugarcane scientists, cane development and extension officers, sugar industry managers and valuable source of reference worldwide.

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.

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.