Breeding of Yuetang 08776, a New Sugarcane Variety Suitable for Mechanized Production

[Objectives] To study the breeding of a new sugarcane variety Yuetang 08776 suitable for mechanized production. [Methods] With Yuetang 96-86 as the female parent and Yuetang 99-66 as the male parent, Yuetang 08776 was bred by the Bioengineering Institute of Guangdong Academy of Sciences. It was approved as a non-major crop variety by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in December, 2019. Through many years of multi-pilot trials, the characters, traits and disease resistance of Yuetang 08776 were investigated, and the key points of its cultivation technique were summarized. [Results] Yuetang 08776 is characterized by medium maturity, high sugar content, high and stable yield, strong cold and drought resistance, large number of effective stems, strong ratooning ability and lodging resistance. Yuetang 08776 has excellent agronomic traits, and has been identified as moderately resistant to smut and mosaic disease. The average cane yield of Yuetang 08776 was 119.89 t/ha, 18.50 t/ha higher than that of CK, an increase of 18.25%. The average sugar yield was 17.15 t/ha, 2.11 t/ha higher than that of CK, an increase of 14.03%. The average sucrose content of Yuetang 08776 in the early period (November to December) was 13.20%, 0.71 percentage points lower than that of CK; in the middle and late period (January to March of the following year), the average sucrose content was 15.23%, 0.22 percentage points lower than that of CK; and the average sucrose content of the whole period was 14.21%, 0.47 percentage points lower than that of CK. [Conclusions] Yuetang 08776 is a sugarcane variety with medium maturity, high sugar, high and stable yield, strong resistance and good ratooning. It is suitable for mechanized seeding, management and harvesting, and suitable for planting and popularizing in most sugarcane production areas of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan.