History and Current Status of Sugarcane Breeding, Germplasm Development and Molecular Approaches in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the sugarcane-producing countries in the South Asian region. The present sugar production accounts for approximately 4.5%, and jaggery production accounts for 20.5% of overall consumption. In the 2020–2021 cropping season, the country produced 7.37 million tons of sugarcane in a harvest area of 0.17 million hectares. The average sugarcane yield is around 70 t/ha, with a sugar yield of 5.49 t/ha. Due to the competition for cereals and other short-duration crops, the area under cane cultivation is decreasing substantially, resulting in the reduction in total sugarcane production. In recent decades, Bangladesh has made great strides in producing new sugarcane varieties through controlled crossbreeding, with the majority of current commercial varieties coming from regional breeding programs. The main goals of the sugarcane breeding program in Bangladesh are high productivity with high sugar content, early maturity, good ratooning ability, resilience, and resistance to the biotic and abiotic challenges of sugarcane. Improved sugarcane varieties have significantly increased sugar recovery from 12.43 to 13.89% and production from 83 t/ha in 1963 to 106 t/ha in 2022–2023. Micropropagation aimed at improving sugarcane varieties has enabled rapid propagation and accelerated acceptance of new varieties. This article provides a brief overview of the development of sugarcane in Bangladesh over time, as well as a discussion of current research difficulties and methodological methods, such as introgression-based, biotechnological, and molecular genetic breeding techniques.