Translated from a post on their Brazilian Facebook page.
CERES NEWS | Effect of drought on sugarcane opens prospects for sorghum hybrids next season
Sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum plants may help to decrease losses before the scenario likely to fall in sugarcane productivity
Season 2013/14 crop sorghum reveal advances in agronomic management and research of hybrids adapted to different production environments , executive says
Piracicaba ( SP ) - The effects of the dry and hot climate of the South-Central region of Brazil should also be felt in the second half of this year by companies in the sugarcane industry , according to preliminary analyzes of meteorological institutes . Given this situation , experts anticipate that the season 2014/15 of cane sugar could have compromised their productivity before a likely decline in milling .
In recent days, Datagro estimated that the grinding of cane sugar in the Center-South of Brazil will total 574.6 million tons next season , which starts in April . The amount is less than 3.6% No 2013 /14 ( 596.2 million tons ) period. According to Datagro , the drought is the direct cause of the prospect of reduced supply of raw materials , which will therefore below the 615 million tonnes previously provided by Unica - the Union of Sugar Cane Industry - in Cycle 14 / 15.
For Ceres Seeds Brazil , a subsidiary of American Ceres, Inc. , the unexpected scenario outlined for sugarcane reinforces the need for the sugarcane industry companies seek new and alternative technologies to expand its ethanol production and energy .
Holds one of the largest germplasm collections of energy crops in the world , Ceres introduced in Brazil and develops a portfolio of hybrid sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum hybrid , distributed under the BLADE ®.
Sweet sorghum hybrids have been tested for three years by major mills and partners Ceres in the country for production of ethanol in the offseason of cane sugar. Your bagasse , as with the cane , is also used in the boilers of these units for cogeneration of electricity .
Have the high biomass sorghum intended for the production of biomass for cogeneration as to generate heat . This hybrid recently reached the fields and has proven to be an economically attractive option for sucroenergéticas mills , and other industries that use biomass boilers , according to Ceres .
According to the general manager of Ceres Brazil , André Franco , certain obstacles have prevented the sorghum crop to establish more broadly in the ' start ' of the business in 2010 . However, the degree of knowledge associated with the local agronomic management and adaptation of hybrids to different production environments are being overcome harvest after harvest.
Franco points out that in the culture that is ongoing harvest promising results are expected in several areas , for example in regard to indicators of ethanol production per hectare on sorghum Blade ® . He prefers at this time, not to deal with numbers. Remember that the harvest of these hybrids begins in November and ends in April and May , just in the off season of sugarcane .
A projection of Datagro consultancy recently released by a news agency , states that the culture of sweet sorghum can add to the numbers of the Brazilian sugarcane industry a volume within 3500 and 5000 liters of ethanol per hectare per year , which would today an increase of 5 billion gallons of biofuel to domestic production, which is of order 25 billion liters annually .
Regarding the high biomass hybrid BLADE ® now marketed by Ceres , Franco notes that the product today has 23 % fiber in its composition and potential average productivity of up to 42 tonnes per hectare at 50 % moisture . " Its calorific value has proven less than the bagasse from cane sugar," emphasizes the executive .
Other benefits of BLADE ® high biomass , says Franco, reside in the average cost of production - today more attractive than the average of bagasse during the crop - and humidity : sorghum biomass reaches 50 % moisture while still in the field. Therefore , unlike sugar , which measures demand for storage and treatment of bagasse , sorghum can be harvested and taken directly to the boiler or it can be stored .
The general manager of Ceres adds that for these features - together with the upward trend in the cost of power generated by hydroelectric and thermal - in the coming seasons culture hybrid BLADE ® high biomass will be positioned for use in the food sector , refrigerator , citrus and in the grain industry, among others employing biomass as a source to generate heat and energy .
André Franco also said that the consolidated data of sorghum harvest in progress will be known only in the second half of this year . However , it added, an overview of the development of hybrids of sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum BLADE ® - and earlier this season - allows to foresee a future of growth.
" The remarkable progress already checked the trailer on knowledge management techniques , as well as to the ecological characteristics of our hybrid sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum , strengthen the confidence of Ceres in your business strategy that is ongoing in Brazil ," concludes Franco .
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