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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(2)

Sucrose accumulation in sugarcane is influenced by temperature and genotype through the carbon source–sink balance

N. G. Inman-Bamber A D , G. D. Bonnett B , M. F. Spillman C , M. H. Hewitt A and D. Glassop B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A CSIRO Plant Industry, Davies Laboratory, University Road, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.

B CSIRO Plant Industry, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.

C CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Davies Laboratory, University Road, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: geoff.inman-bamber@csiro.au

Crop and Pasture Science 61(2) 111-121 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP09262
Submitted: 14 September 2009  Accepted: 8 December 2009   Published: 8 February 2010

Abstract

While substantial effort has been expended on molecular techniques in an attempt to break through the apparent ceiling for sucrose content (SC) in sugarcane stalks, molecular processes and genetics limiting sucrose accumulation remain unclear. Our own studies indicate that limiting expansive growth with water stress will enhance sucrose accumulation in both low- and high-sucrose clones. Sucrose accumulation was largely explained (72%) by an equation with terms for photosynthesis, plant extension rate (PER), and plant number. New research was conducted to determine if this simple model stands when using temperature rather than water stress to perturb the source–sink balance. We also applied a thinning treatment to test the proposal implicit in this equation that SC will increase if competition between plants for photo-assimilate is reduced.

Four clones from a segregating population representing extremes in SC were planted in pots and subjected to warm and cool temperature regimes in a glasshouse facility. A thinning treatment was imposed on half the pots by removing all but 6 shoots per pot.

Temperature as a means of reducing sink strength seemed initially to be more successful than water regime because PER was 43% lower in the cool than in the hot regime while photosynthesis was only 14% less. PER was a good indicator of dry matter allocation to expansive growth, limited by water stress but not by temperature, because stalks tended to thicken in low temperature. Thinning had little effect on any of the attributes measured. Nevertheless the clonal variation in plant numbers and the response of PER to temperature helped to explain at least 69% of the variation in sucrose accumulation observed in this experiment. Thus the earlier model for sucrose accumulation appeared to be valid for the effect on sucrose accumulation of both temperature and water stress on the source–sink balance. The next step is to include internodes in models of assimilate partitioning to help understand the limiting steps in sucrose accumulation from the basics of source–sink dynamics.

Additional keywords: photosynthesis, diurnal temperature, plant extension rate, thinning, plant population.


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