YT93-159: A High-Yield and Early-Maturing Sugarcane Variety with Superior Agronomic Traits

Sugarcane is an essential global industrial cash crop for sugar and bioenergy production, and breeding superior varieties is critical to improving industrial benefits and adapting to changing climatic environments. This review synthesizes the published breeding history, agronomic trial records, juice-quality evaluations, and transcriptomic analyses of the elite sugarcane variety YT93-159, and uses this variety as a model case to discuss the achievements and challenges of sugarcane breeding in South China. YT93-159 was bred through artificial hybridization using YN73-204 as the female parent and CP72-1210 as the male parent. Data compiled from variety-registration archives, peer-reviewed studies, and the authors’ previously published transcriptomic analyses indicate that YT93-159 integrates excellent parental advantages, with prominent early sugar accumulation, high yield, stable stress resistance, and wide adaptability. On the basis of differentially expressed genes identified in published transcriptomic datasets, its superior comprehensive traits may be co-regulated by candidate pathways including carbon fixation, sucrose metabolism, and plant hormone signal transduction; however, several pathway members showed the opposite expression changes, and these mechanisms should be regarded as hypotheses requiring further functional validation. This variety has achieved large-scale popularization in China and possesses excellent functional nutritional values. By clarifying the phenotypic and proposed molecular basis of YT93-159′s superior traits, this review provides a valuable germplasm resource profile and theoretical reference for sugarcane genetic improvement and sustainable industrial development.