DESIGNING, PRODUCING AND PROCESSING ‘ULTIMATE’ VARIETIES OF SUGARCANE

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

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

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.

Plenary   Proc. Int. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 27, 2010
www.issct.org
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