Sunday, December 30, 2012

DESIGNING, PRODUCING AND PROCESSING ‘ULTIMATE’ VARIETIES OF SUGARCANE

C. RICHARD, M. McKEE, R. TRICHE and M. GODSHALL 
Sugar Processing Research Institute, New Orleans, LA, USA
charley.richard@ars.usda.gov or charley@sugarjournal.com

Abstract

MANY sugar industries, beet and cane, would predict that in the future they will produce a 
wide range of products, which could include sugar. 
To realise this prediction, new varieties must be designed, production practices 
improved and alternative processing techniques developed. 
Sugarcane breeding and selection has moved far beyond the ‘old days’ of crossing 
the best parents and hoping to select the best segregate as a potential new variety. 
Modern breeding procedures and biotechnology offer greater efficiency. Typically, 
varieties are selected on the basis of high yield of sugar and characteristics important to 
agronomic production and pest resistance in each growing region. 
The typically measured juice quality characteristics of brix and pol along with 
tonnage, ratooning ability and fibre content can  predict yield of sugar per unit area. It is 
anticipated that the ‘ultimate’ variety of the future will involve much more detailed analysis 
than the typically measured characteristics. 
Once produced, high yielding varieties for various products need to be grown in a 
sustainable manner that provides maximum  production with minimal environmental and 
economic impact. 
Processing of these varieties will need to accommodate the specific product(s) being 
produced whether sugar, energy, some other product or some combination of these. 
To demonstrate the importance of quality characteristics of future varieties, the Sugar 
Processing Research Institute has investigated the presence of components that could either 
enhance or inhibit production of various products from sugarcane. 
Significant variability among and within species of sugarcane and related genera 
have been found for starch, polysaccharides, ash, cations, invert sugars and other parameters. 
This paper includes these data and the potential importance of these parameters in 
future varieties, its importance in a sustainable production system and its importance in 
processing needs. 

KEYWORDS: Sugarcane Varieties, Sugarcane Breeding,
Sugarcane Composition, Chromatographic Analysis, Alternative Products.

http://www.atamexico.com.mx/PDF/Abstract.pdf




No comments: