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Scientists Breeding for High Energy Canes
AUSTRALIA - Queensland based scientists are currently researching the use of sugarcane to assist with addressing the world's increasing demands for renewable energy.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology (CRC SIIB) and the BSES Limited/CSIRO Joint Venture has announced that some of 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 exciting 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 liquid transport fuels, are elevating due to global supply-demand pressures; renewable sources of fuel or electricity are attracting a premium because of less impact on greenhouse gases compared with fossil fuels; and research and development across the globe continues to highlight how to reduce the cost of producing liquid biofuels from fibre.
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.
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 (following strict quarantine procedures). 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.
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