Industrial Sweet Potato Variety Shows Promise for Biofuel Production

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers have recently discovered that sweet potato vines can serve as livestock feed while the roots are a suitable feedstock for biofuel.

The agriculture industry in Florida has been looking for new, viable crops to replace citrus that have been diminished by the greening disease while potato farmers have also been trying to find crops that offer biofuel alternatives as well as food and/or animal feed source. A new study by Professor Ann Wilkie and Wendy Mussoline revealks that the industrial sweet potato variety, CX-1, may be that crop.

The researchers found that CX-1 is superior as a dual-purpose crop than "table" varieties. They evaluated CX-1 against cultivated varieties, Beauregard and Hernandez in the field and laboratory in Gainesville. CX-1 roots were found to have higher starch content for fuel ethanol yields while its vines were suitable for animal feed.