Energy cane vs sugarcane: Watching the race in plant development

Author(s)

de Abreu, Luis Guilherme F. ^{[1, 2]} ; Grassi, Maria Carolina B. ^{[2, 3]} ; de Carvalho, Lucas M. ^[2] ; da Silva, Jovanderson J. B. ^[2] ; Oliveira, Juliana V. C. ^[1] ; Bressiani, Jose A. ^[4] ; Pereira, Goncalo A. G. ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Brazilian Ctr Res Energy & Mat CNPEM, Brazilian Biorenewables Natl Lab LNBR, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Genet Evolut & Bioagents, Lab Genom & BioEnergy, UNICAMP, BR-13083864 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Roundtable Sustainable Biomat RSB, Impact Hub Geneva, Rue Fendt 1, CH-1201 Geneva - Switzerland

^[4] GranBio Investimentos SA, AV Brigadeiro Faria Lima 2777, Cj 1503, BR-01452000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS; v. 156, NOV 15 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) grows in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, being cultivated in more than 100 countries. Modern cultivars are the results of interspecific crosses, having S. officinarum as the main genetic source, which results in high sucrose production. Energy cane is still a less rigorous definition, applied to cane cultivars that have higher biomass, although lower sucrose concentration. Despite the practical advance, little is known about the molecular and physiological basis of the energy cane productivity and robustness, a knowledge that can be very helpful for the development of cane varieties in general. In this work, we have explored the sprouting process, which is very irregular in sugarcane plantation and thereby a main cost factor. Our results could be summarized in three main contributions: first, we observed that energy cane has a physiological strategy very different from that one observed for sugarcane, starting with the shoot development and only thereafter beginning the root growth. After 10 days, the energy cane had a shoot height of 14.19 cm against of 4.24 cm of sugarcane. Nevertheless, we noticed the energy cane root presents a fast and vigorous development, overcoming the sugarcane root volume after 50 days, with 24.36 and 14.79 cm(3), respectively. Second, we observed that the energy cane has homogeneity in the sprouting rate of the different internodes, regardless of their age. Finally, our data allowed us to propose that the greater growth seen in energy cane might be attributed to a vigorous rate of nocturnal growth with angulation in relation to the time of 11.89 degrees, which is lower in sugarcane, with angulation of 5.47 degrees. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/10315-2 - Identification of new regulators of the process of sprouting of sugar cane and energy cane
• Grantee: Luís Guilherme Furlan de Abreu
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• FAPESP's process: 17/20521-6 - HS-GC/MS platform for the analysis of plant growth promoter volatiles
• Grantee: Juliana Velasco de Castro Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Partnership for Technological Innovation - PITE