Unrivalled laboratory services for the sugarcane industry
SRA’s laboratories play a central role in every process in the production of sugar and its byproducts – from growing high yielding, disease and pest resistant sugarcane seedlings in the nursery, through to determining sugar quality in the mill. Essential services to the industry provided by SRA laboratories every day include the analysis of soil nutrients, studying the genetic traits of varieties, identifying and researching control of pests and diseases, analysing agricultural chemical levels in plants and soils, determining components of runoff, and determining the nutrient status of plants and mill byproducts.
For the milling sector, SRA has developed calibrations for benchtop Near Infrared (NIR) instruments which are used in mill labs to measure multiple mill products in a fraction of time compared to traditional methods. Online NIR instruments have also been calibrated to determine cane, bagasse and mill mud parameters in mills in near real-time. SRA’s laboratories supported the advancement of these technologies and continue to do so.
Brisbane – Innovative Research & Industry Services (IRIS) Laboratories
17 Iris Place, Acacia Ridge QLD 4110
T: 07 3331 3333 E: SRA@sugarresearch.com.au
Tully – Soil Biology Laboratory
216 Dallachy Road, Silky Oak QLD 4854
T:0439 027 532 E: SRA@sugarresearch.com.au
Pachymetra Assay Request Form
Woodford – Pathology Laboratory
90 Old Cove Road, Woodford QLD 4514
T: 07 5434 5900 E: AssayLabWoodford@sugarresearch.com.au
Nematodes Soil Assay Request Form
Experience IRIS Laboratories
View this short video for an introduction to the services that SRA Laboratories provide to the Australian sugar industry.
RSD diagnostics
- highly sensitive quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR)
- sugarcane xylem sap and leaf sheath biopsy (LSB) sample analysis
- mill juice sample analysis research.
Molecular plant pathology
- improving diagnostic tools for identifying domestic and exotic pathogens
- optimising sampling methods for molecular diagnosis of diseases
- molecular techniques for variety resistance screening
- disease testing of material used for tissue culture
- disease diagnostics to meet export conditions.
Biosecurity and Quarantine
In accordance with State and Commonwealth government regulations, Biosecurity and Quarantine:
- facilitates movement of clean sugarcane plants between biosecurity zones
- imports foreign germplasm for variety development
- tests for exotic and endemic diseases
- works with industry and government on new potential disease threats.
Tissue culture
The team in the Tissue Culture laboratory supply commercial sugarcane varieties as clean disease-free seedlings to prevent serious diseases. Use our tissue cultured plantlets calculator to find out how much you will need for your acreage.
Nutrition for soil, plant, water and mill by-products
- offering leading edge instrumentation and highly skilled staff
- providing significant expertise in the analysis and interpretation of nutrient results
- accredited for nutrient analysis by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC).
Enquire today about our soil, plant, water and mill by-products analysis.
NIR Development
- online NIR to monitor bagasse and provide process control feedback to optimise extraction
- benchtop NIR instruments used in mill laboratories to measure multiple mill products accurately and in less time
- development of handheld NIR for in-field analysis of soil nutrients and cane maturity.
Find out how we can assist you to use NIR.
Analytical Chemistry
- analysis of the quality variables in sugarcane clones
- analysis of oligo- and polysaccharide
- determination of trace levels of herbicides and pesticides in farm runoff
- measurement of impurities in milling streams.
Contact us to learn more about our analytical chemistry analyses and other industry services.
Cytogenetics
- decoding the chromosome set of sugarcane cultivars and their origins
- identifying enhanced sugarcane traits
- improving cultivars for increased production and returns.
Genomics (DNA analysis)
- using molecular markers to test sugarcane identity (DNA) to aid early selection of disease resistant varieties.
- generating Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotypic data to support genomic selection of improved varieties
- providing specialist inhouse Statisticians and Data Scientists for data analysis.
Entomology
Identification and research into the control of key sugarcane insect pest species (e.g. canegrubs, soldier fly and stem borers).
Soil Pathogen Services
- nematode testing and analysis of soil, root or shoot system tissue for diagnosis or long-term prevention of plant-parasitic nematode damage
- soil testing for Pachymetra root rot, based on counting spores in the soil, used to determine the severity of the disease in crops.
These services are available at our Tully and Woodford laboratories.