Abstract
THE Report of the proceedings of the Imperial Sugar Cane Research Conference, held in London in July 1931, has recently been issued by H.M. Stationery Office (price 2s. 6d. net). The conference, to which reference has already been made in NATURE (July 25, p. 160) was convened by the Empire Marketing Board to discuss the future of scientific research in sugar cane production, but it was decided that the world economic position should be considered in drawing up a research programme. As a result, some seventy pages of the report give a review of the economic position of the industry, which contains many valuable facts and figures. The present organisation of research within the British Empire is considered in some detail in reference to the various cane sugar growing areas, after a brief general introduction by Dr. P. S. Hudson that deals mainly with the genetical side of the problem. Dr. Hudson concludes that whilst some early advances have been made, and still may be expected, the full utilisation of scientific methods in breeding, which involves a cytological study of the genetical material, can alone lead to continued progress and development in this line of work, which is of so much importance in developing Empire resources. Dr. W. R. Thompson points out that, owing to the wide range of habitat in which sugar cane can be successfully grown, it suffers from an unusually large list of insect parasites. With some of these, such as the leaf froghopper in Hawaii, a very great measure of success in combating them has been obtained by using the method of biological control. Dr. Thompson states that the method of biological control has this great advantage that, when it can be successfully applied, it provides what is practically permanent relief at a relatively small initial cost.
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Sugar Cane Research. Nature 129, 684 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129684a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129684a0