Progress on the Breeding of Energy Plants Comprising the "Saccharum Complex"
The "Saccharum complex" (Gramineae) is composed of C4 plants with high bioenergy potential.In recent years,because of the world energy crisis and developments in plant genetics and breeding,researchers at home and abroad have paid more attention to resource evaluation and bioenergy breeding of the " Saccharum complex".This paper provides background to the taxonomy and key members of the "Saccharum complex" and reviews domestic and foreign progress on breeding the "Saccharum complex" using the core species,Saccharum and Miscanthus,as examples.The major purpose is to summarize previous research on breeding the "Saccharum complex",and to highlight problems and solutions regarding phyletic classification and germplasm resource utilization of related taxa.Some suggestions are also given on future basic research and industrial exploitation.