S Ostengo1, N Sorol1 and M Balzarini2
1Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres, Las Talitas, Tucumán, Argentina; santiagostengo@eeaoc.org.ar
2Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de Argentina (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina
Sugarcane juice is composed of sugars, water, and different soluble and insoluble substances known as non-sugar compounds. Both sugar and non-sugar compounds are crucial in the factory because they are responsible for adverse effects on the quality and recovery of sucrose. Multi-trait mixed models enable the estimation of BLUPs (Best Linear Unbiased Predictors), which can be considered indices summarizing genetic merit based on several traits. This work aims to generate an index that characterizes varieties according to their industrial performance related to non-sugar compounds. Analyses of non-sugar compounds were conducted on 10 genotypes evaluated across six sites of Tucumán, Argentina. Starch, ash, phosphates, phenols, and color of sugarcane juice were measured during the beginning of harvest season for three consecutive years. Multitrait and Multienvironmental Mixed models were adjusted to obtain BLUPs of the genetic effect, considered as an index of industrial quality (Ic). Negative Ic values, further from zero, indicate genotypes with good industrial performance according to non-sugar components. The random effect of the sample was included in the model to account for the correlations among traits (T). The variance component of the genotype effect (G) was statistically significant, indicating variability among genotypes when considering the five non-sugar components together. LCP85-384 exhibited the lowest Ic value (-0.322), suggesting outstanding industrial suitability based on the non-sugar components. In contrast, TUC95-10 and TUCCP77-42 showed the highest Ic values. The predictors of the G×T interaction revealed that the poor industrial quality of TUC95-10 and TUCCP77-42 is mainly due to the high starch and ash content in their juice, respectively. The study successfully developed an index (Ic) to evaluate the industrial performance of sugarcane varieties based on non-sugar components, providing a valuable tool for the characterization and selection of genotypes according to a set of traits of interest.