Discrimination of sugarcane according to cultivar by ¹H NMR and chemometric analyses

Several technologies for the development of new sugarcane cultivars have mainly focused on the increase in productivity and greater disease resistance. Sugarcane cultivars are usually identified by the organography of the leaves and stems, the analysis of peroxidase and esterase isoenzyme activities and the total soluble protein as well as soluble solid content. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) associated with chemometric analysis has proven to be a valuable tool for cultivar assessment. Thus, this article describes the potential of chemometric analysis applied to ¹H high resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) and NMR in solution for the investigation of sugarcane cultivars. For this purpose, leaves from eight different cultivars of sugarcane were investigated by ¹H NMR spectroscopy in combination with chemometric analysis. The approach shows to be a useful tool for the distinction and classification of different sugarcane cultivars as well as to access the differences on its chemical composition.