UAF engineers new sugarcane variants
University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) announced that it has developed two high-yielding and insect resistant varieties of sugarcane.
The new variants, insect-resistant transgenic sugarcane (CABB-IRS) and herbicide-tolerant transgenic sugarcane (CABB-HTS), were approved for field trials by the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) of Ministry of Climate Change upon recommendations from the IBC, UAF and TAC Pak-EPA.
The varieties were developed by Dean Faculty of Agriculture Faisalabad Prof Dr Muhammad Sarwar Khan and his team from the Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan congratulated the team and hoped that it would be a milestone for sugarcane production.
Pakistan is the 11th largest producer of sugarcane in the world and between 2021 and 2022, sugarcane production increased to 88.65 million tons from 81.009 million tons. Average sugarcane production in the country is 45-50 metric tons/ha, which is very low compared to the average global yield which is around 60 metric tons/ha. Two serious yield-limiting agents are weeds and pests.
The most damaging insect-pests of sugarcane are top borer, stem borer, gurdaspur borer, root borer, which may cause up to 50 percent of yield losses.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2023.