4d.Progress report.
This report serves to document research conducted under a Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement between the Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Sugarcane Research Unit (SRU) and the Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GAAS) in Nanning, Guangxi, China. Additional details of research can be found in the report for the inhouse research project 6435-21000-012-00D, Genetic Improvement of Sugarcane by Conventional and Molecular Approaches. The objective of this cooperative project between the SRU and the GAAS is to improve the possibilities of obtaining new sugarcane varieties and to develop new production and disease diagnostic techniques through the exchange and evaluation of varieties and molecular and agronomic technologies with the ultimate goal of production sustainability. The objective will be accomplished through the exchange of wild, experimental, released varieties for testing and evaluation for specific traits of interest or as commercial varieties as well as new molecular and production technologies to enhance yield or reduce input costs. In 2005, a supervisory research agronomist and a research molecular geneticist from the SRU accepted an invitation from the GAAS to present seminar overviews of the research in sugarcane varietal development, molecular disease diagnosis, and weed management practices being conducted by the staff of the SRU as well as to review similar research being conducted by the staff of the GAAS. This research supports Component IIb (Genetic Improvement) of National Program 301 (Plant Microbial and Insect Genetic Resources, Genomics and Genetic Improvement).