Sugar & Ethanol
Experiment
after experiment
Developing commercially competitive varieties of sugarcane is a 10- to 12-year process
written by: Leonardo Maia
photos by: Guilherme Afonso
During the first phase, called T1, the process of elimination is brutal: after competing with commercial varieties for two years, just 1,000 seedlings – the sturdiest and most promising of the bunch – are left standing. The next phase, T2, takes another two years, when characteristics such as profiling (the number of sugarcane stalks that sprout within one linear meter), closing and resistance to diseases and herbicides are evaluated. Roughly 250 to 300 plants survive that process by showing average or above-average results. During the T3 phase, which involves three more years of tests, the clones with the best average results after three harvests undergo the final testing stage, which is known as the competition trial. By now, there will be just 20 or so survivors – 30 at most. After another painstaking three-year period, one or two new varieties could leave the laboratory. Three, with any luck. But all these efforts could also be in vain. Sometimes these trials don’t produce any new varieties of sugarcane at all.
The entire process takes 10 to 12 years. The aim is to ensure that at least one tiny seed among the 300,000 shipped from Alagoas will become a commercially competitive variety of sugarcane with higher sugar content and greater capacity per tonne in each planted hectare. These activities have a direct impact on obtaining greater productivity at a unit like ETH’s Eldorado facility.
“The main objective of our experimental station is to find a variety that is well-adapted to the new farming regions that are opening up, like Mato Grosso do Sul today, because the existing varieties are better suited to the Northeast and São Paulo State. Having an in-house project like this is a step forward for that region. The clones are well-adapted to its specific soil types and climate,” explains Alécio Cantalogo, the Eldorado Unit’s Agricultural Manager.
The very existence of experiments of this nature – a first for Mato Grosso do Sul – will benefit the entire region. Part of the Inter-University Network for the Development of the Sugar-Ethanol Industry (RIDESA), the Eldorado Unit will share its discoveries with other members of the network, including federal universities and rival companies.
At the same time, ETH will be able to use varieties developed at other stations, such as the ones produced in Valparaíso, in São Paulo State. Now in the final trial stages, these varieties can soon be grown commercially.
Carrying out R&D projects that develop new sugarcane varieties in its own experimental fields puts ETH ahead of the competition. “Once the entire process has been carried out, if a new variety shows good results, we will already have it in a thermally treated commercial format. That is the advantage of having a station here, because the other sugar/ethanol factories will have to wait for it to be launched on the market, while we will already have 100 to 200 hectares planted with it,” observes Alexandre Sulino, who is the co-director of the Experimental Station, along with Dorivan Rios Figueiredo.
The Eldorado Unit has 60,500 different clones planted on 45 hectares. The goal for the next few years is to plant 60 hectares with test varieties. Most are at the T1 stage, which started out with 20,000 seedlings last year and received an additional 40,000 this year. The other 500 plants are in the final trial stages – they are the ones that came from Valparaíso.
Vertical growth
These R&D activities will also benefit ETH’s other units, such as the ones in Alcídia and Conquista do Pontal, São Paulo, and the neighboring Santa Luzia 1 Unit, which is under construction. Everyone involved is hugely optimistic: “The average productivity we expect today is over 90 tonnes of sugarcane per hectare. But because our cane fields are just three years old, the biggest challenge is keeping up that high average over the next few years. Our aim is to produce more in less space. We want to grow vertically,” explains Alécio Cantalogo.
To achieve that aim, it is essential for the experimental program to be successful. “We plant enough to produce one new variety, at the very least, in ten years’ time, when our first clones will have completed the testing stages. Alagoas has produced some of the top-of-the-line sugarcane crosses on the market.”
Ideal climate
Before they are planted in ETH’s experimental field in Mato Grosso do Sul, the Serra do Ouro Flowering and Crossing Station produces potential new sugarcane varieties in the vicinity of the city of Maceió, Alagoas. Under the watchful eyes of Federal University at Alagoas (UFAL) researchers, different types of sugarcane are crossed naturally in pursuit of sturdier, more productive new varieties. The only station of its kind in the RIDESA network, it produces all the seeds distributed to its members. The hybrid-production process takes place between April and June, when researchers from all the member universities go to Alagoas.
But why just Alagoas? UFAL Professor and Serra do Ouro director Geraldo Veríssimo explains: “Scientific studies have shown that, due to its climate and fertile soil, this area has the ideal conditions for the deep flowering of sugarcane. The latitude is ideal and the temperature is perfect, ranging between 18 and 32 degrees Celsius.”
The UFAL Agricultural Science Center has one of the most important sugarcane germplasm banks in the world, including varieties from countries like Australia, the United States, Indonesia and Colombia, some dating back to the 19th century. The program began in the 1970s, when the Brazilian Sugar and Ethanol Institute (IAA) was still active. After the IAA was shut down, the nation’s federal universities inherited its researchers and facilities and kept the program going.
A young leader at the Experimental Station
Serra do Ouro crosses known varieties, such as Republic of Brazil (RB), which make up 70% of domestic production and 80% of the varieties planted at the Eldorado Unit. Geraldo Veríssimo expects to produce three to ten new varieties per lot of 300,000 seeds sent annually to RIDESA’s experimental stations. Naturally, they first have to undergo a lengthy selection process, which takes from 10 to 15 years.
“The tendency is to produce new types of sugarcane. Our contribution is growing every year. In the 1970s, Brazil produced less than 50 tonnes of sugarcane per hectare, with a sugar content of 100 kilos per tonne. Today we are working with an average of 80 tonnes per hectare and the sugar content has risen from 100 to 140 kilos,” says Geraldo.