ABSTRACT
Sugarcane is an important economic crop in the tropics and subtropics due to its high sucrose content andincreasinginterestinitsbioenergypotential(Gilbertetal.,2007).Sugarcane(Saccharumspp. hybrid)istheworld’smostimportantsugarcrop(Bakker,1999;Cheeroo-Nayamuthetal.,2000). Itisanerect,veryrobust,tillering,perennialC4 grass. It is grown primarily for sugar (sucrose), but molasses,ethylalcohol,and˜ber(bagasse)areitsimportantby-products.Commercialsugarcane cultivarsarecomplexinterspeci˜chybridsofupto˜vespeciesofSaccharum robustum;Saccharum sinense;Saccharum barberi;Saccharum of‡cinarum,the“noble”canes;andSaccharum spontaneum,afreelytilleringwildspeciesusedasasourceofvigoranddiseaseresistance(Lingleand Tew, 2008; Wang et al., 2008). The “noble” canes may have been selected from S. robustum by stone-ageculturesinNewGuinea.TheywerespreadthroughoutthePaci˜candSoutheastAsia priortothearrivalofEuropeanman.CanewastakenbytheSpanishandPortuguesetotheNew Worldtoformthebasisofsugarcanecultureinthesixteenthcentury.Inthelateeighteenthcentury, moredesirablecultivarsofS. of‡cinarumwereintroduced.Modernsugarcanebreedingbeganat the end of the nineteenth century, when viable true seeds were discovered (Jones, 1985).
