Objective  To breed a new variety of sugarcane that had high yield and sucrose content, strong ratooning ability and lodging-resistance, and were adaptable for mechanized production in preparation for the development of a sustainable cane sugar industry in China.

  Method  Mintang 061405, selected from the cross combinations between Mintang 92-649 and ROC10, was bred following the procedures of the Five-nursery Breeding System.

  Result  The new variety successfully passed the production tests at different sites for several years in Fujian as well as a national regional test. Mintang 061405 exhibited a mean cane yield of 130.055 t·hm^-2 with a November-to-February sucrose content (absolute value) of 15.35% and a sugar yield of 20.475 t·hm^-2, representing 19.84% increase on cane yield, 11.83% increase on sugar yield, and 0.23% less on sucrose content over those of the currently leading variety ROC16 in Fujian. The genetic composition of the new variety richly inherited from 14 different basic germplasms.

  Conclusion  Mintang 061405 was a new sugarcane variety exhibiting the desirable properties of high yield, high sucrose content, strong ratooning ability, wide adaptability, high resistance to lodging, and adaptable to the mechanized planting and harvesting in the major sugarcane producing areas in China, such as Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, and Yunnan lincang. However, a deficiency was found on its susceptibility to smut infection.