Energy cane breeding

Geraldo Veríssimo de Souza Barbosa; João Messias dos Santos; Carlos Assis Diniz; Danilo Eduardo Cursi; Hermann Paulo Hoffmann

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is grown in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and the main products derived from this raw material are sugar, ethanol, and electricity. The energy cane can be understood as the cane that provides greater lignocellulosic biomass, with the total utilization of the plant (stalks, leaves, and straw), and thus raise the ethanol production through hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, increase electric energy generation, in addition to optimizing the production of other fiber derivatives. In order to obtain energy cane cultivars, breeding programs maintain a germplasm collection with high genetic diversity in sugar and fiber content, perform genetic crosses between modern hybrids of sugarcane (high sugar) and accesses of the genus Saccharum (high fiber), produce large amounts of seedlings, and select superior individuals.