Maize and Miscanthus--Improving Feedstocks for Bioenergy Production.

All 191 member states of the United Nations agreed to a set of measurable goals and targets at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. These goals address extreme poverty, while promoting gender equality, education, health, and environmental sustainability. These Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be reached by 2015. While the provision of adequate, affordable, and reliable energy services was not defined as a separate goal, it falls under the category of providing sustainable energy sources and energy services and is thus part of the MDGs. Recent assessments of energy service availability showed that without a big push to overcome bottlenecks in the energy sector the MDGs won't be reached. Multiple energy sources must be utilized to meet developing nations' need for energy. Starch and sugar based processes, like ethanol production using maize starch or sugarcane, will not be suitable for countries with food shortages. Therefore, lignocellulosic approaches provide suitable alternatives. Corn stover represents the largest quantity of biomass residue in the U.S., with over 250 million dry tons produced annually, and as a result it is a formidable biomass resource for the generation of renewable liquid fuels. It has been estimated that between 125 and 150 million tons of corn stover can be converted to biofuels in the U.S. annually without causing soil erosion or the depletion of soil carbon. This amount of corn stover will generate between 81-97 million tons of fermentable sugars that will be available for conversion to renewable liquid fuels. However, the future demand for liquid fuels and energy in general can only be met by increased plant productivity and much improved biomass-to-fuel conversion rates. Conventional and genomic-based breeding approaches for improving maize and Miscanthus, i.e., a perennial grass species, will be presented and their effectiveness will be discussed.