Exploring Variety in Corn Cobs for Usage in Biomass Production.

Maize (Zea mays L.) cobs are an attractive source for bioenergy production. They are an ideal source of biomass; they are widely available, low in cost, and easy to collect and transport from fields. Cobs are also a renewable crop residue and have a high quality for conversion into ethanol. Despite their desirable attributes, very little effort has been focused on the improvement of maize cobs by plant breeding. This study’s objectives were to explore the genotypic variation of different cob properties including length, diameter, and weight; and to evaluate the potential for breeding dual purpose maize with high grain yield and increased cob yield.  The project consisted of evaluating progeny derived from the intermated B73 × Mo17 (IBM) mapping population, expired PVP lines, and pipecorn accessions. The data collected show substantial variation for all cob traits evaluated. Correlations between cob and other traits were calculated. Most importantly, grain and cob biomass yield showed moderate positive correlations. The results suggest we can utilize the genetic variation in maize cobs to increase the cob biomass yield along with grain yield.