02353naa a2200277 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902400370006010000210009724500500011826000090016850000900017752013070026765000120157465000200158665000220160670000210162870000200164970000210166970000170169070000190170770000290172670000200175570000270177577302730180220082592016-04-11       2014    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d7 a10.1007/978-1-4939-1447-0_22DOI1 aMORAIS, L. K. de  aBreeding of Sugarcane.h[electronic resource]  c2014  aSéries: Handbook of Plant Breeding, v. 9 Cruz, Von Mark V.; Dierig, David A. (Eds.).  aSugarcane is the main source for sugar production and the most important crop for energy production, as well as for byproducts like ethanol and fibers in the world. With a complex genome, the plant has its species from crosses between species of the genus Saccharum , which were the basis for sugarcane breeding programs worldwide. The production of sugarcane has increased worldwide due to breeding programs that have developed more productive clones for specific uses and adapted to different climatic conditions. The future objective of breeding programs is to develop sugarcane with high productivity, high sucrose content ,drought tolerance, and high production of ethanol and biomass, i.e., plants with high fiber content and with cell walls easily broken to favor the production of ethanol from bagasse, efficient plants with low nitrogen fertilizer use, and others, and consequently to reduce environmental impacts. Currently, the demand for products derived from sugarcane is consistently increasing; the ethanol byproduct has been pointed out as one of the important sources to feed the demand for renewable energy in fossil and nonrenewable fuel substitution programs in different countries around the world. This chapter describes the genetic improvement of sugarcane and its current goals.  aEthanol  aGenetic markers  aGenetic resources1 aAGUIAR, M. S. de1 aSILVA, P. de A.1 aCAMARA, T. M. M.1 aCURSI, D. E.1 aCHAPOLA, R. G.1 aFERNANDES JÚNIOR, A. R.1 aCARNEIRO, M. S.1 aBESPALHOK FILHO, J. C.  tIn: MORAIS, L. K. de; AGUIAR, M. S. de; SILVA, P. de A.; CÂMARA, T. M. M.; CURSI, D. E.; CHAPOLA, R. G.; FERNANDES JÚNIOR, A. R.; CARNEIRO, M. S.; BESPALHOK FILHO, J. C. Industrial Crops: breeding for bioenergy and bioproducts, New York: Ed. Springer,, 2014. cap. 2.