Biomass composition of two new energy cane cultivars compared with their ancestral Saccharum spontaneum during internode development

Traditional sugarcane breeding seeks for high sucrose content. However, with the increasing demand for renewable energy sources, there has been a shift in desired traits for sugarcane as an energy crop. Energy cane is a cultivar developed from Saccharum spp. with high fiber, higher biomass productivity and resilience, having great potential as a bioenergy feedstock. This work analyzed biomass content and chemical composition of two energy cane clones (VG1126 and VIGNIS 3) and one of its progenitors, S. spontaneum (VG spo), throughout distinct stages of internode development. VG1126 had a fiber and sucrose content closer to the ancestral, showing 24% more fiber than VIGNIS 3, being more suitable for industrial lignocellulose applications. Both energy canes showed an increase in lignin content, S/G ratio and pCA along internode development. Ancestral cane, however, showed similar composition across culm development, suggesting that it completes vegetative growth faster than energy cane. Although the three crops have different fiber contentconte, sucrose content, and morphology, their overall biomass composition (lignin, cell wall sugars, and hydroxycinnamates) was similar. These results represent a useful model to follow chemical cell wall composition during vegetative cell development and are expected to help breeding energy cane cultivars programs to use in biorefineries. •S. spontaneum has high fiber and low sucrose content, and it is used as a parental line to energy cane cultivars.•S. spontaneum lignin S/G unit ratio is distinct among cultivars of the same species.•Distinct sugarcane crops have different fiber, sucrose, and morphology, but similar biomass composition.•The internodes from the top to the base of the culm revealed progressive maturation stages.•Sampling culm across the stages of development was a useful system to follow cell wall composition in energy cane varieties.