Genetic Improvement of Elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) As Biofuel Feedstock.

Elephantgrass is one of the best adapted and highest biomass yielding, perennial grasses in Florida. It is a promising bioenergy crop, since it can be used as feedstock for lignocellulosic ethanol production. However, elephantgrass is currently listed in Category I by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council for its potential for invasiveness. The biosafety of elephantgrass can be enhanced by genetic hybridization and selection of late-flowering, non-lodging accessions with high biomass yield. Therefore, five genetically distant accessions were crossed to produce around 1600 F1 hybrids, which were evaluated from May to November 2011. During that period, morphological traits like plant height, stem diameter, number of tillers, leaf width and flowering time were recorded and their correlation with biomass production was evaluated. The 65 genotypes with highest biomass were vegetatively propagated for evaluation in replicated plots. The same morphological traits plus chlorophyll content, uniformity and erectness were measured from May to August 2012, when the biomass weight was determined. Data will be presented comparing these selected F1 hybrids regarding the different biomass traits and flowering time.