Research targets high-energy cane

A special breed of high-energy sugar cane varieties are being developed by Queensland-based scientists in a bid to meet the world's increasing demands for renewable energy.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology (CRC SIIB) is working with the BSES Limited/CSIRO joint venture on the project.

They say their latest plant breeding efforts could lead to the development of a special breed of 'Hi-Energy Canes' with the capacity to incorporate advances in biomass and bioenergy production.

CRC SIIB senior plant breeder, Dr Philip Jackson, said that 'Hi-Energy Canes' could provide new options for the Australian sugarcane industry, which up until now has largely selected commercial cane varieties based on sugar content.

"We are seeing a big growth in interest around the world in the energy potential of sugarcane fibre, or the renewable energy potential of bagasse and fermentation of the plant’s cellulose," Dr Jackson said.

"In the not-so-distant future, some sugarcane varieties with high cane yields and high fibre, which in the past would have been discarded, could become very profitable."

Industry and energy specialists alike believe that within 10 years sugarcane fibre will attract a high value due to energy prices, especially for liquid transport fuels.

Renewable sources of fuel for electricity are also attracting a premium because of their lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels.

The CRC SIIB, in its recent analysis of the energy potential of sugarcane, found that sugarcane is an environmentally sustainable and economically viable alternative to crops being assessed in the USA for biomass and bioenergy.

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The CRC SIIB research is taking this information to the next level, combining traditional plant breeding with sophisticated DNA analysis to develop new high performing ‘energy’ canes.

To date, scientists working on this project have combined the best of Australia’s current commercial canes with the untapped genes of some wild relatives of sugarcane in China.

Initial crosses were made by the CRC SIIB in China between 2003 and 2005 and half of the seed was imported into Australia.

The resultant cane is being evaluated in the Burdekin and Herbert, north Queensland, with some new crosses showing high biomass and fibre, but lower commercial cane sugar (CCS) than commercial varieties.

Most recently, some of the new varieties bred from the wild relatives have been crossed with current high-value, smut resistant, Australian varieties.

It is hoped that offspring from these crosses could be commercially valuable for production of both sugar and energy.

source:cairns