Bayer CropScience and the CTC, the Center for Sugarcane Technology, São Paulo, Brazil, are planning to cooperate in research to develop biotech sugarcane varieties. Early research indicates the possibility of obtaining 30 to 40 percent higher amounts of sugar from the new varieties. The products are expected to be submitted for regulatory approval by 2015.
CTC hopes to tap the biotech expertise of Bayer for extending the traits of sugarcane while Bayer will be expanding its plant technology activities to cover sugarcane. Brazil produces about 40 percent of world’s sugar output. Sugarcane yields not only sugar, but also ethanol and energy.
Bayer is already familiar with sugarcane, having been providing products and solutions to this segment for 30 years. The company is now targeting significant productivity increases for the ethanol industry. CTC’s research extends from sugarcane-breeding to industrial processing.
According to Joachim Schneider, Head of the Business Operations Unit BioScience at Bayer CropScience, sugarcane is the most productive crop for economically viable renewable energy with the best CO2 balance. CTC hopes to leverage this advantage and add more value to the sugarcane production and processing chain, and enhance its competitiveness in this segment.
Read more at Bayer CropScience press release.
