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Pokkah boeng disease (PBD), which is caused by Fusarium verticillioides, is a major sugarcane disease in Southeast Asian countries. Breeding varieties to become resistant to F. verticillioides is the most effective approach for minimizing the damage caused by PBD, and identifying genes mediating resistance to PBD via molecular techniques is essential. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) is one of a cell’s first responses to pathogenic infections. Plant peroxisomes play roles in several metabolic processes involving ROSs. In this study, seedlings of YT94/128 and GT37 inoculated with F. verticillioides were used to identify PBD resistance genes. The cells showed a high degree of morphological variation, and the cell walls became increasingly degraded as the duration of the infection increased. There was significant variation in H2O2 accumulation over time. Catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase activities increased in both seedlings. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed that peroxidase-metabolism-related genes are mainly involved in matrix protein import and receptor recycling, adenine nucleotide transport, peroxisome division, ROS metabolism, and processes related to peroxisomal membrane proteins. The expression levels of SoCATA1 and SoSOD2A2 gradually decreased after sugarcane infection. F. verticillioides inhibited the expressions of C5YVR0 and C5Z4S4. Sugarcane infection by F. verticillioides disrupts the balance of intracellular ROSs and increases the cell membrane’s lipid peroxidation rate. Defense-related enzymes play a key regulatory role in maintaining a low, healthy level of ROSs. The results of this study enhance our understanding of the mechanism through which peroxisomes mediate the resistance of sugarcane to PBD and provide candidate genes that could be used to breed varieties with improved traits via molecular breeding.

Sugarcane is a globally significant economic crop, and sugar content is a key determinant of its financial and industrial value. This study utilized sugar content information from spring-planted and ratoon sugarcane in six research regions across Guangxi, China from 2008 to 2023 along with concurrent meteorological data. By conducting statistical tests, the critical meteorological factors influencing the sugar content of sugarcane (effective cumulative temperature and rainfall) were identified. These factors were then used as independent variables to construct a vector autoregression (VAR) model, which was employed to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamic relationships between sugar content and meteorological variables across different planting periods. The empirical results demonstrated that the influence of effective cumulative temperature on sugar content across various regions and planting periods shifted from positive to negative in the short-term, eventually reverting to a positive effect after a period of alternating influences. The impact of rainfall mirrored effective cumulative temperature, though it was relatively less pronounced. The sugarcane in Nanning and Baise was less influenced by effective cumulative temperature and rainfall, with the short-term impact changing from positive to negative and diminishing over time. Our findings provide scientific insights for guiding the ecosystem management of sugarcane in China.