SRA26A – ONE TO WATCH

SRA26A

– ONE TO WATCH

Download the SRA26A Factsheet

The development of a new sugarcane variety typically takes 12 years,

and in this context SRA26A was no

different, originating as a northern seedling planted in 2008 with its first commercial release in the North in 2019 followed by the Herbert in 2020.

But as Northern Variety Development Manager Dr Felicity Atkin and Northern Variety Officer Rhylee Pendrigh explain SRA26A is not your run of the mill variety and definitely one we all need to watch.

“There was early excitement about SRA26A, or QN08-2282 as it was then known, when it was first trialled in the Northern and Herbert Final Assessment Trials (FATs) in 2014,” Felicity said.

“The feedback from the team on the ground was ‘Felicity, keep an eye on this one’. And they weren’t wrong.”

As smut was threatening varieties on the east coast, including the Herbert and Far North, QN08-2282 was progressing through the variety development pipeline as an experimental clone. From an early stage it was competitive with current popular commercial varieties and showed good overall resistance to all major diseases. It is also performed well in later stage trials planted over several years across the Northern and Herbert regions.

“After 2006 we did lose some very productive Pachymetra resistant varieties to smut susceptibility across the North and Herbert,” Felicity said.

“At the time there weren’t profitable variety choices that were also smut, Pachymetra, and leaf scald resistant. Growers had no choice but to plant varieties intermediate to Pachymetra. Subsequently we have seen an increase in average spore counts of Pachymetra over time across the Northern Coastal and Herbert regions.”

The reason why the Northern and Herbert teams were so excited about SRA26A was because this new variety looked like it could fill that gap.

“This new variety was ticking all the productivity and disease boxes, and it looked like real cane,” Felicity said. “SRA26A has always presented well in its visual appearance and to the harvester,” Rhylee said.

“During all our trial harvests from plant to second ratoon, we collect stalk samples to measure commercial cane sugar (CCS) and weigh each plot for cane yield, but we also do what is called an Appearance Grade where we record any agronomic traits that are undesirable, including the amount of flowering, suckering and lodging. We also look out for any sideshooting, smut and any other diseases: basically, anything that a farmer wouldn't like to see in a variety. “SRA26A has always looked very consistent and impressive in its appearance across all crop classes and years it has been tested,” Rhylee said.

“It always looks healthy. It has a pale green but clean top with a large dense canopy, even when other varieties have either Brown Rust or Yellow Spot - SRA26A ’s canopy is always clean. It’s quite a hairy cane that makes it quite distinguishable. It has nice, mostly short regular internodes, which we hope makes it more ideal for billet planting as well.