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INTRODUCTION
1. Importance and production trends
Sugarcane is a C4 plant commercially grown in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the worldwith ancient history. Sugarcane accounts for more than 70% of the total sugar produced globally, mostly consumed as refined sugar. Recently, sugarcane has received attention as an energy crop; in many countries, including Australia, Brazil, India bagasse (the fibrous part after juice extraction) is burnt by sugar mills to produce electricity to power the mills'operations.
Sugarcane is also used for animal feed (green leaves and top portion), alcoholic beverages, and as a fertilizer (trash) in crop production across the globe. Sugarcane is the world's most produced crop (total production) and ranks among the ten most widely grown crops worldwide. The total global production of sugarcane in 2021-2022 was 2.3 billion tons, and it was grown in approximately 100 countries, covering an area of ~28 million hectares. The largest sugarcane producer is Brazil (40% of the total production), followed by India, China, Thailand and Pakistan. Other major sugarcane producing countries are Mexico, United States, Colombia, Australia, Cuba, and the Philippines. In the past 60 years, world sugarcane production increased almost three-half fold, mainly because of the rising demand for sugar and ethanol.
Production gains are partly attributed to the genetic improvement of sugarcane varieties that are adapted to particular target environments. Concurrently, improvements in management techniques, fertilization, and irrigation have all played a role in increasing sugarcane productivity. The main driver to the total increase in production is the dramatic increase in cultivated land area.
The occurrence of new diseases and pests could cause increased losses. Continuing monoculture cropping can build up soil pathogens and nematode pressure, which might be partly responsible for a lack of sugarcane yield increase worldwide (Stirling et al., 2001). Additionally, diseases have been observed to substantially impact sugarcane yield. Red rot of sugarcane is one of the most economically important sugarcane diseases worldwide. Reported yield losses due to red rot are 15- 50% in irrigated and rainfed conditions in Pakistan and 29% in Fiji (Johnson and Tyagi 2010). Red rot primarily affects yield, while key quality characteristics like sugar content are also affected.
Another major disease that affects sugarcane crops worldwide is...