Registration of 'HoCP 00-950' sugarcane.

'HoCP 00-950' (Reg. No. CV-135, PI 654823) sugarcane (a complex hybrid of Saccharum officinarum L., S. spontaneum L., S. barberi Jeswiet, and S. sinense Roxb. amend. Jeswiet) was selected and evaluated by the USDA-ARS, working cooperatively with the Louisiana State University AgCenter, and the American Sugar Cane League, Inc. It was released to growers in Louisiana in April 2007. In 67 machine-harvested trials on light- and heavy-textured soils from 2004 to 2007 (plant-cane through third-ratoon crop) averaged over nine southern Louisiana locations, HoCP 00-950 produced 5% more sugar and had 6% higher sugar content than the industry standard, 'HoCP 96-540'. In plant-cane and ratoon-crop maturity tests harvested in 2007, HoCP 00-950 had significantly higher sugar content than HoCP 96-540 across all harvest dates, with 35% higher sugar content at the outset of the harvest season (late September). HoCP 00-950 is resistant to brown rust (Puccinia melanocephala), smut (Ustilago scitaminea), leaf scald (Xanthomonas albilineans), and mosaic diseases. It is susceptible to the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) and should not be planted in areas where pesticide use is restricted. The early maturity characteristic of HoCP 00-950 provides growers with a variety that can produce profitable sugar yields early in the milling season without the need to apply a chemical ripener.