Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research effort is to produce improved sugarcane varieties adapted to conditions in Louisiana.

Approach:
Parental clones containing desirable traits will be maintained at St. Gabriel, LA (LSUAC) and at ARS facilities at Canal Point, FL, and Houma, LA. Each Party will be responsible for designing and making crosses using conventional cross-pollination techniques and parental clones at hand, collecting seed from these crosses, planting the seed in greenhouses, and ultimately planting the resulting seedlings (experimental varieties) on their respective experimental farms. Experimental varieties will be identified and multiplied using vegetative cuttings for further evaluation of specific traits of interest or as commercial cultivars (line trials and in-field tests) using independent and collective assessments for agronomic traits, disease and insect resistance, and cane and sugar yields on the research farms of the LSUAC and ARS. Seed-cane (vegetative cuttings/stalks) of experimental varieties that appear worthy of further testing, based on the results of jointly-conducted infield tests, will be planted to outfield test sites on selected farms to insure the thorough testing of these experimental varieties under Louisiana conditions. Seed-cane increases of experimental varieties deemed to have commercial potential as a result of this testing shall be conducted at Primary and Secondary Increase Stations under the general supervision of the ASCL.