Researchers Win Funding for Miscanthus, Sorghum Research

(University of Illinois/Biomass Magazine) Two University of Illinois crop sciences researchers interested in improving plant feedstocks for bioenergy production were selected to receive funding by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a larger Obama administration effort to diversify the nation’s energy portfolio and accelerate development of new clean energy.
Erik Sacks and Pat Brown, both assistant professors in plant breeding and genetics in the College of ACES, each are leading two of 10 projects from around the country that were awarded the funding aimed at accelerating genetic breeding programs to improve plant feedstocks for the production of biofuels, biopower, and biobased products.
The $12.6 million in research grants was awarded earlier this year under a joint DOE-USDA program that began in 2006 focused on fundamental investigations of biomass genomics, with the aim of harnessing nonfood plant biomass for the production of fuels such as ethanol or renewable chemical feedstocks.
Sacks and his team, including U of I professor of plant biology and crop sciences Steve Long, were awarded ~$1.5 million to continue working on breeding efficiency of the perennial grass crop Miscanthus x giganteous (Mxg), which has become an important feedstock crop in the emerging bioenergy industry.
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Because Miscanthus can be crossed with sugarcane, this project will also provide materials and data that could help in the development of more cold-hardy sugarcanes and energycanes.
Brown was awarded $1.3 million in funding from the program for his ongoing work with biomass sorghum. Brown will be working with 600 lines of sorghum and looking for natural variation in composition that could be useful for breeding biomass sorghum.
“We are looking for classic traits such as low lignin,” Brown said. “Lines with low lignin tend to fall down easily—to lodge—which is a trade-off. Low lignin is good (easier to break down) as long as the lines stand up because we have to look at it in terms of maximizing economic yield per acre. So we’re interested to see if there is a natural variant out there that makes plants lodge.” READ MORE