Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- The Editors -- List of Contributors -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1 Historical Development -- 1.2 Cultivar Development -- 1.3 Breeding Approach -- 1.4 Molecular Tools -- 1.5 Future Outlook -- References -- Chapter 2: Switchgrass Genetics and Breeding Challenges -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Origin and Distribution -- 2.3 Growth and Development, Genome Structure and Cytogenetics -- 2.4 Genetic Diversity -- 2.5 Phenotypic Variability and Inheritance -- 2.6 Conventional Breeding Approaches -- 2.7 Molecular Breeding -- 2.8 Conclusions and Future Directions -- References -- Chapter 3: Switchgrass Genomics -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Genome Sequencing -- 3.3 Analysis of Expressed Sequences in Switchgrass -- 3.4 Linkage Mapping -- 3.5 Cytoplasmic Genome -- 3.6 Genome-enabled Improvement of Switchgrass -- 3.7 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 4: Germplasm Resources of Miscanthus and Their Application in Breeding -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Species Belonging to Miscanthus Genus, Their Characteristics, and Phylogenetic Relationships -- 4.3 Natural Hybrids between Miscanthus Species -- 4.4 Karyotype Analysis -- 4.5 Phylogenetic Relationships between Miscanthus Species -- 4.6 Genetic Improvement of Miscanthus -- 4.7 Variations in Several Agronomical Traits Related to Yield and Plant Performance -- 4.8 Molecular Resources -- 4.9 Transgenic Miscanthus -- 4.10 Future Studies -- References -- Chapter 5: Breeding Miscanthus for Bioenergy -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Miscanthus as a Biomass Crop -- 5.3 Breeding Strategy -- 5.4 Genetic Diversity -- 5.5 Breeding Targets -- 5.6 Incorporating Bioinformatics, Molecular Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS), and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) -- 5.7 Summary -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 6: Breeding Sorghum as a Bioenergy Crop -- 6.1 Introduction.

6.2 Botanical Description and Evolution -- 6.3 Traditional Breeding and Development -- 6.4 Approaches to Breeding Sorghum as a Bioenergy Crop -- 6.5 Composition in Energy Sorghum Breeding -- 6.6 Genetic Variation and Inheritance -- 6.7 Wide Hybridization -- 6.8 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 7: Energy Cane -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Sugar and Energy Production Systems -- 7.3 Sugarcane Improvement -- 7.4 Selection of Sugarcane Genotypes for Energy Production -- 7.5 Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 8: Breeding Maize for Lignocellulosic Biofuel Production -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 General Attributes of Maize as a Biofuel Crop -- 8.3 Potential Uses of Maize Stover for Bioenergy -- 8.4 Breeding Maize for Biofuels -- 8.5 Single Genes and Transgenes -- 8.6 Future Outlook -- References -- Chapter 9: Underutilized Grasses -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Prairie Cordgrass -- 9.3 Bluestems -- 9.4 Eastern Gamagrass -- References -- Chapter 10: Alfalfa as a Bioenergy Crop -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Biomass for Biofuels -- 10.3 Why Alfalfa? -- 10.4 Breeding Strategies -- 10.5 Breeding Targets -- 10.6 Management and Production Inputs -- 10.7 Processing for Biofuels -- 10.8 Additional Value from Alfalfa Production -- 10.9 Summary -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 11: Transgenics for Biomass -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Transgenic Approaches -- 11.3 Transgenic Approaches for Biomass Improvement -- 11.4 Summary -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 12: Endophytes in Low-input Agriculture and Plant Biomass Production -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 What are Endophytes? -- 12.3 Endophytes of Cool Season Grasses -- 12.4 Endophytes of Warm Season Grasses -- 12.5 Endophytes of Woody Angiosperms -- 12.6 Other Fungal Endophytes -- 12.7 Endophytes in Biomass Crop Production.

12.8 The Use of Fungal Endophytes in Bioenergy Crop Production Systems -- 12.9 Endophyte Consortia -- 12.10 Source of Novel Compounds -- 12.11 Endophyte in Genetic Engineering of Host Plants -- 12.12 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Index.