Desenvolvimento, registro e proteção de variedades de cana-energia

Abstract

The large availability of marginal agricultural areas in Brazil allows the cultivation of energy crops to produce biomass dedicated to the production of electricity, ethanol and second generation biochemicals, fundamental for facing a series of problems related to the sustainability of the planet and the energy supply national. In this context, energy cane, a more rustic type of sugarcane with a very high potential for biomass production, is one of the most important alternatives among energy crops. In 2012, GranBio, a pioneer group in 2G ethanol in Brazil, started a genetic improvement program focused on the development of sugarcane cultivars with high biomass productivity, high fiber content, low production cost, and characteristics that allow it to occupy the more than 32 million hectares of marginal agricultural areas in the country. After four years of work, the cultivar VERTIX 2 has been registered and protected with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply. This work will describe the stages of development, registration and protection of this new energy cane cultivar, which produced 97% more green mass, 108% more dry mass, 57% more fiber and 35% less solids soluble in relation to the commercial standard of sugarcane, cultivar RB92579.