Alternative renewable energy sugarcane

As global demand for food and energy increases, their shortage becomes a global challenge. Sugarcane is a field crop which can be used for food (sugar) and energy (from the by-products of bagasse and molasses) production in term of bio-products. In other word sugarcane and sugar industry provide a significant role for both productions as the growing area in Thailand is around 1.9 million hectares giving 128 million tons of cane annually. However, the sugarcane clone or variety giving both high sugar and bagasse yield or multipurpose sugarcane has to be developed. In addition, ratoon cane growth and yield especially in lower fertile soil should be considered.

The Department of Agriculture (DOA)’s KhonKaen Field Crops Research Center (KKFCRC) and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) collaborated on the interspecific hybridization research between commercial and wild sugarcane, Saccharum spontaneum. The aim was to produce multipurpose sugarcane varieties with high sugar and bagasse production, without dramatically reducing ratoon cane yield and being suitable for unfavorable areas. TPJ04-768 sugarcane clone was derived from 94-2-128 as a female parent, and 03-4-331 as a male one, which was a hybrid between 88-2-401 and S. spontaneum (ThS98-168 and ThS98-264), at KKFCRC, Thailand in 2003. Breeding procedures and regional trials were conducted from 2004-2021. The target traits related to biomass production were investigated during 2012-2014 on plant cane and 2 ratoon canes. The cane yield, fiber yield, fiber content, molasses yield, dependent electrical power yield, and biogas production of the TPJ04-768 was 73.06 tons/ha, 12.13 tons/ha, 17.09 percent, 3.27 tons/ha, 3,725 KW/ha, and 3,103 m³/ha, which was greater than those of the standard variety, Khon Kaen 3 (KK3) 5, 41, 36, 5, 11, and 12 percent, respectively. TPJ04- 768’s total returns from cane and sugar yield, fiber, and molasses were 276,025 baht/ha, which were 5 percent higher than KK3. In conclusion, TPJ04-768 sugarcane clone is suitable for multipurpose uses, which were sugar production and biofuels such as ethanol production from molasses and electric power generation from bagasse.