Founded: 1885
Full Time: 9
Part Time: 1
Budget:356,000
Director: K. A. Gravois
5755 LSU Ag. Road
St. Gabriel, LA 70776
Telephone: 225/642-0224FAX: 225/6425339 E-Mail:kgravois@agctr.lsu.edu
Research Areas:
The primary focus of the Sugar Research Station is sugarcane variety development for the Louisiana sugar industry. The objectives of the program are increased yields of sugar, both disease and insect resistance, and improved stubble longevity and cold tolerance. The Sugar Research Station also conducts sugarcane cultural practices studies.
Areas of Expertise:
Because of the complexity of sugarcane variety development, a multi disciplinary team approach is essential. The variety development team has collective expertise in the areas of plant breeding, genetics, experimental statistics, entomology, plant pathology, sugar laboratory chemistry, and electronic data management. The Louisiana sugarcane variety development team consists of scientists in five Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station (LAES) budgetary units. The Sugar Research Station provides two sugarcane breeders and four Research Associates to the variety program and provides the overall management of the Sugarcane Variety Development Program.
Special Capabilities and Facilities:
Sugarcane does not flower naturally in Louisiana's temperate climate. Sugarcane is induced to flower in large photoperiod houses located on site at St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Crossing and seedling germination are also conducted at on site greenhouses. No other sugarcane breeding program in the world relies soely on photoperiod induction to initiate flowering for crossing. The station also provides personnel and a laboratory to analyze sucrose samples for all LAES sugarcane research projects.
Research Equipment:
Small scale single roll mill for juice extraction
Refractometer to measure Brix
Polarimeter to measure pol
Keywords:
0203021 Sugar
0201008 Agronomy
0201024 Crop Science