Current Status of Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) Breeding under Sustainable Conditions in Argentina

Abstract

Sugarcane belongs to the genus Saccharum, to the family Poaceae (or Gramineae),subfamily Panicoideae, tribe Andropogoneae, subtribe Sacharinae, group Saccharastrae. Itis the most important sugar crop and the second bioethanol crop in Argentina. Sugarcaneproduction for the 2018/19 marketing year hit 21.5 million tons in the country. While 16.8 milliontons of this amount was utilized for the production of sugar, 4.7 million tons was usedfor the production of first generation (1G) bioethanol (USDA GAIN report, 2019), the twomain end-products of a non-vertically integrated sugar and ethanol supply chain that generatesexchanges between different companies, i.e., growers on one side and millers in theother (Acreche & Valeiro, 2013). National production of sugar for the 2018/19 marketingyear reached 1.66 million tons (raw value). Of this amount, human domestic consumptionaccounted for 1.57 million tons and 187,000 tons were exported (USDA GAIN report,2019). Production of 1G bioethanol by fermentation of sugarcane juices or molasses hit528,162 m3 for the 2018/19 marketing year, representing 47% of the national production of1G bioethanol (Secretaría de Gobierno de Energía, 2019).