Inheritance of red rot resistance in sugarcane (Saccharum sp. hybrids)

Inheritance of resistance to red rot caused by Colletotrichum falcatum Went was studied in progenies from 39 crosses involving 45 parental clones of interspecific and intervarietal origin. The progenies were subjected for screening against red rot under controlled condition testing (CCT) method. In general, crosses involving resistant parents tended to have more number of resistant progenies than those with susceptible parents. Out of 39 crosses investigated for race specific resistance as a qualitative trait, 18 crosses showed simple Mendelian monogenic segregation (vertical resistance). Parent progeny regression analysis suggested that about 50% of the variation in the population could be attributed to horizontal resistance (additive genetic variance). Two crosses involving susceptible parents viz., 971235 (S) × Co 1148 (S) and Co 88028 (S) × Co 775 (S) contributed 28–30% resistant progenies. These transgressive segregants could be used as donor parents in red rot resistance breeding programmes for imparting race non-specific resistance.