An important part of the answer to the country's energy woes could be blowing in the prairie wind, according to a plant geneticist. He has spent the past 10 years breeding switchgrass, an ...

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — A team of researchers at the University of Illinois is working to create a more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Now, these scientists have turned to a prairie grass to ...

AUSTIN, Texas—Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, working with scientists from the USDA, have received a $4.6 million grant to explore how switchgrass, a native prairie grass and ...

Before farmers settled the Midwestern United States and planted crops, the extensive root systems of prairie grasses--including the tall, strong-stemmed switchgrass species--enriched the soil, ...

Which varieties of switchgrass have sufficient biomass and low enough levels of ash to be turned into high-quality ethanol, a biofuel for cars sometimes called “grassoline”? Can tree rings from trunk ...

Several years ago, farmers had a pretty good financial incentive to grow switchgrass. Now, they’re looking for a new market to justify planting the lush, warm season grass. Will Brandau, chairman of ...

Blumwald and his colleagues will use the grants to develop new molecular biology tools to accelerate switchgrass breeding and biotechnology tools to develop new varieties of pearl millet, a ...

This native grass can capture atmospheric carbon in its substantial root system. While switchgrass has been seen as useful as a clean-burning source of renewable fuel, it also has the ability to pull ...

Alabama genetic researchers played a key role in groundbreaking new research into a growing source of fuel from plants that could help lessen America’s oil addiction. The plant is America’s native ...

BOONEVILLE - Research involving one of Arkansas' oldest native tallgrasses is spreading across the state. Switchgrass test plots have been established from Gentry in Benton County to Monticello in ...

Panicum virgatum L., commonly known as switchgrass, is a perennial bunch grass that is receiving attention as a potential candidate for biofuel production from its biomass (via conversion of cellulose ...

Scientists have completed sequencing the genome of a kind of wild grass that will enable researchers to shed light on the genetics behind hardier varieties of wheat and improved varieties of biofuel ...