Genetic Variabilities and Genetic Gains for Yield Components in Regional Sugarcane Breeding Programmes on Reunion Island

Sugarcane variety development programmes are costly and lengthy. It appears important to periodically assess their ability to select competitive genotypes for yield components and provide genetic gains. This article reports a 10-year retrospective analysis of successive variety trials conducted in four regional breeding programmes on Reunion Island in the most advanced regional selection stage. The four variety programmes were dedicated to the humid coastal zone (LM), the per-humid coastal zone (SB), the irrigated dry coastal zone (ES) and the dry high lands (VB) of the local industry. Using mixed linear models, the objective of the study was to (1) assess genetic variabilities available for yield components in this advanced selection stage; and (2) estimate trends of genetic gains achieved over the last decade across the four programmes. Yield components were: cane yield (CY), estimable recoverable sugar (ERS), fibre content (FIB) and economic index (EI). Broad-sense heritabilities were high (0.70-0.91) for all traits in each programme. Mean genetic coefficients of variation were about twice as high for CY (14.1%) and EI (15.5%) compared to ERS (5.7%) and FIB (6.6%). A higher probability of identifying superior varieties was found for CY and EI in two of the four programmes characterized either by thermal and hydric stresses (VB) or by an edaphic stress (SB). Simple linear regression of variety performances versus years of selection revealed trends in genetic gains for EI ranging between 0.53 and 1.81% increase per year that were highly significant (P < 0.001) in the two programmes (LM and VB).