Maize Hybrid Looks Promising for Biofuel

By University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tuesday, February 21,

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have identified a new contender in the bioenergy race: a temperate and tropical maize hybrid. Their findings, published in GCB Bioenergy, show that the maize hybrid is potentially capable of producing ethanol from biomass (plant material used for biofuel production) at levels equal to or greater than ethanol produced from grain harvested from current commercial maize hybrids.

"Our maize hybrid, when grown using the same amount of fertilizer as commercial grain hybrids, produced 15 to 20 percent more biomass than the commercial hybrids." said Dr. Frederick Below, Professor of Crop Physiology at the University of Illinois.

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