Registration of ‘CPCL 02-6848’ Sugarcane

Development of ‘CPCL 02-6848’ (Reg. No. CV-158, PI 667596), sugarcane (a complex hybrid of Saccharum spp.) was initiated by the United States Sugar Corporation (USSC) and completed by collaborative research of the USDA–ARS, the University of Florida, and the Florida Sugarcane League, Inc. The female parent of CPCL 02-6848 is CL 92-2533. The male parent is not known because the flower of CL 92-2533 was exposed to the pollen of several male flowers (polycross). ‘CL 41-223’ is the only cultivar in the pedigree of CPCL 02-6848 that was cultivated on a large acreage (87% of total acreage in 1962) in Florida. The major attributes of CPCL 02-6848 include its high yields of cane tonnage in the plant-cane through the second-ratoon crops on both muck and sand soils, its resistance to smut (caused by Ustilago scitaminea Syd. & P. Syd.), brown rust (caused by Puccinia melanocephala Syd. & P. Syd.), and Sugarcane mosaic virus strain E (SCMV), and moderate resistance to leaf scald [caused by Xanthomonas albineans (Ashby) Dowson] and ratoon stunting disease (caused by Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli Evtsuhenko et al.) in Florida. CPCL 02-6848 was released on 16 Oct. 2012, and it is expected to be cultivated on both muck and sand soils in Florida.