Low level of selfing found in a sample of crosses in Australian sugarcane breeding programs

In sugarcane breeding programs, parents used in crosses are classified as male or female based on relative amounts of viable pollen produced. Usually the ‘female’ parent produces some pollen, albeit at a lower level than the ‘male’ parent. The possibility of selfing and associated problems have long been recognised by breeders. A high level of selfing may seriously bias estimates of breeding value of parents and affect the reliability of family means for identifying superior crosses. However, there is no reliable information reported indicating the level to which selfing is occurring in sugarcane crosses. The level of selfing was evaluated in eight Australian sugarcane crosses using RAPD markers. The crosses were selected as exhibiting variable levels of performance, as judged by measurements of commercial cane sugar (CCS), cane yield (TCH) and sugar yield (TSH) in plots consisting of random progeny clones. Five to eight male-specific RAPD bands were identified for each cross and used to screen twenty-eight to thirty-eight progeny from each cross. Selfed progeny were identified in each cross on the basis of absence of any male-specific RAPD bands after screening with at least 5 such RAPDs. Levels of selfing ranged from 0 to17.6%, with most of the crosses exhibiting zero or low levels of selfing. Although only a limited number of sugarcane crosses have been studied, this survey suggests that unwanted selfing is not a significant problem in the Australian sugarcane breeding program. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.