Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugarcane and one of the leading suppliers of sugar and ethanol worldwide. In the 2019–2020 crop season, the country produced 642.7 million tons of sugarcane in a harvest area of 8.44 million hectares. Historically, sugarcane breeding has contributed continuously to increasing yields by regularly releasing superior cultivars for use by the Brazilian industry. In the last 40 years, an average annual increase of 155.7 kg ha−1 of sugar yield has been reported, about half of which may be attributed to breeding programs. However, due to the size of the country, the intensive expansion of the crop to low-fertility soils in the last few years, especially in degraded pasture areas, and the widespread adoption of mechanization, new challenges have been imposed on national breeding programs. This review covers the current situation with sugarcane breeding in Brazil and the main advances that have allowed the country to maintain world leadership in developing the industry. Additionally, the history of sugarcane breeding, current national breeding institutions, germplasm development, key breeding objectives, selection stages and methodologies are summarized. An overview is also presented of biotechnological approaches which have become key tools for improving Brazilian traditional breeding programs. The adoption of strategies to increase Brazilian sugarcane yield, aiming to consolidate crop production in a food and energy matrix, is also discussed.

A major challenge in sugarcane breeding program is the obtaining of enough number of seeds (caryopses) for the development of new improved cultivars. Genotypes differ in their function as pollen recipient and pollen donor, which also affect the seed performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify the production and performance of sugarcane seeds from different hybridizations involving RB92579 as pollen recipient and pollen donor. Twelve bi-parental crossings were carried out involving RB92579 and other different genotypes randomly chosen. Seed production potential was evaluated by percentage of fertile spikelets and caryopsis fresh weight. The seed physiological potential was determined by evaluating germination and vigor (index of germination rate, number of normal seedlings per gram of fuzz, and seedling dry weight). The results showed better performance for RB92579 as pollen donor for all characteristics studied. Therefore, RB92579 sugarcane cultivar should be used as pollen donor during hybridizations, condition that permits a greater production and physiological performance of seeds for the sugarcane breeding programs.

Sugarcane cultivar RB0442 has a high yield, late maturation and good drought tolerance. It is recommended for planting in restrictive environments, mainly with water-deficient soils, and is resistant to the major sugarcane diseases of the Northeastern region of Brazil.

-RB99395 cultivar was developed by the Sugarcane Breeding Program at the Federal University of Alagoas

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