Rising 15 feet above a sandy field, a test plot of sorghum grown by a USC biologist might hold promise as a potential energy crop for green transportation fuels and electricity.
Steve Kresovich, endowed chair of USC's Center for Genomics, is using the latest tools in genomics and bioinformatics — and a $1.2 million grant from the USDA — to breed new strains of sorghum for energy.
"There are at least 40,000 types of sorghum in the United States, and we want to maximize the gene variants for yield and drought tolerance to develop the best line for energy production — a crop that is highly productive without requiring high inputs of water and fertilizer," he said.
"Growing sorghum as an energy crop is practical. It's already happening with sugar cane, and there is industrial infrastructure set up to handle it," Kresovich said. "This has the potential for economic development and becoming a part of the solution toward decreasing our need for imported petroleum."
