Outlook and Challenges of Breeding Corn for Lignocellulosic Biofeedstock Production.

Corn stover, the non-grain portion of corn, is a potential source of biofeedstock for energy production in the U.S. because of its abundance and proximity to existing corn grain ethanol plants. Developing maize hybrids that have higher stover yield with potential to produce more fermentable carbohydrates per area of land is crucial for improving the economics of this potential industry. The University of Wisconsin operates a corn silage breeding program focused on the development of corn varieties with enhanced compositional attributes and forage yield. As with corn silage, biomass conversion to ethanol involves microbial fermentation, and, therefore, the yield and nutritional characteristics of the Wisconsin germplasm as well as the technology utilized for its evaluation have shown promise for developing lignocellulosic biofeedstocks for ethanol production.  Modifying the cell wall composition for energy biofeedstocks impacts the ability of microbes to access available polysaccharides for fermentation to ethanol. However, a particular conversion technology has not yet been widely established to produce biofuel, and specific desirable compositional attributes have not been identified. In the near term, maximizing total biomass production per unit area is clearly the most efficient and essential component in the improvement of corn to be used as feedstocks for biofuel. The success of a breeding program aimed at increasing ethanol production depends on 1) the ability to identify important morphological and compositional characteristics affecting biomass properties, and 2) the identification of efficient ways to measure such traits.