Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 14864 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2016 Sorghum and corn seed innovations may expand opportunities. Barb Anderson biomass under marginal conditions,” he says. “Then we will experiment to find the genetic and microbial combinations with the greatest productivity benefits and develop a repository of sorghum-related soil microbes and their genetic sequences as a resource for use by the scientific community.” So far, Schachtman says the main finding confirms that sor- ghum has a very diverse crop range of tolerance to low nitrogen. Researchers grew 10 diverse genotypes this summer, and now are choosing parents for mapping the traits. “Because of the diversity, we are confident we will find the right genetics,” he says. “We have a dream team working on this project. The result will be improved sorghum genetic material for stress tolerance and a microbial cocktail that we can coat on the seeds for further enhancement.” Other institutions involved are the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Washington State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Boyce Thompson Institute, Clemson University, Iowa State University, Colorado State University and the DOE-Joint Genome Institute. “Marrying seed treatments with microbes is an exciting area for future optimization, and it is the potential next step to deliver- ing a biofuels solution with sorghum,” he adds. Corn Enzyme Improves Processing While the public sorghum research project is about creating a seed product from traditional breeding methods, one com- pany has developed a biotech corn product that enhances the ethanol production process. Syngenta’s Enogen corn enzyme technology was developed a decade ago and has been on the market since 2011. Syngenta has also established a program for farmers growing corn for ethanol and licenses a new technology to maximize ethanol plant production. “Enogen was specifically designed to enhance ethanol production,” says Chris Tingle, head of commercial operations Making the MOST of Ethanol WHILE ETHANOL MADE from corn remains the most common biofuel produced in the United States, public and private researchers find other sources, such as sorghum and corn biotech products, may offer additional efficient and eco- nomic benefits to the production process. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, (UNL) leads a $13.5 mil- lion multi-institutional research effort to improve sorghum as a source for biofuel production. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the five-year grant assesses how plants and microbes interact and which sorghum germplasm grows best with less water and nitrogen. Daniel Schachtman, professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of UNL’s Center for Biotechnology, leads the effort. He says sorghum is a logical choice because sorghum varieties more easily replace corn than other sources. In addition, some research suggests sorghum may create more biomass for cel- lulosic ethanol than corn. “Biofuel crops must be able to be grown over a broad geog- raphy and increasingly on more marginal lands,” Schachtman says. “Sorghum handles drought well and uses less nitrogen than corn. Farmers also are familiar with sorghum as a crop and have the equipment and seed availability to meet industry demand over feedstocks like switchgrass or miscanthus.” Schachtman says the ultimate goal of the two-prong approach of studying plant genetics and soil microbes is to get a sustainable system in place for sorghum’s use in biofuels. Geneticists are searching for varieties that use water and nitro- gen more efficiently under limited water or nitrogen conditions. Microbiologists are identifying and characterizing soil microbes that benefit sorghum by enhancing nutrient uptake, water-use efficiency and disease protection. “We hope to map traits like drought and nitrogen use effi- ciency, identify genes and use markers to breed sorghum so we can put together a plant that creates a better, higher yielding