THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED TO QUICKLY DEVELOP A DIVERSE SET OF BETTER-ADAPTED AND HIGHER-YIELDING TRIPLOID M. XGIGANTEUS (MXG) CULTIVARS WITH OPTIMIZED COMPOSITION FOR THE BIOMASS INDUSTRIES IN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN U.S. CURRENTLY, THERE IS ONLY ONE GENOTYPE OF MXG ('ILLINOIS') AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. FOR FARMERS TO GROW AS A BIOMASS CROP; THIS CULTIVAR IS INSUFFICIENTLY WINTER-HARDY IN ZONE 5 AND COLDER, AND FLOWERS TOO EARLY IN THE SOUTHERN U.S. TO ACHIEVE HIGH YIELDS. WE WILL LEVERAGE OUR EXTENSIVE GERMPLASM COLLECTION AND PRIOR PHENOTYPIC DATA FROM MULTI-LOCATION TESTING OF GERMPLASM PANELS TO BREED NEW TRIPLOID MXG GENOTYPES. INITIAL FIELD TESTING WILL BE CONDUCTED IN IL AND AL, STARTING WITH ~100 GENOTYPES ALREADY IN-HAND. ELITE SELECTIONS WILL BE TESTED IN FARMER TRIALS IN COLLABORATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS. TO ACCELERATE MISCANTHUS BREEDING, WE WILL BUILD UPON OUR PREVIOUS STUDIESBY DEVELOPING OPTIMIZED, VALIDATED GENOMIC SELECTION TOOLS TO ENABLE HIGHLY EFFICIENT SELECTION OF MISCANTHUS FOR YIELD, WINTER-HARDINESS (NORTHERN ADAPTATION), LATE FLOWERING (SOUTHERN ADAPTATION), AND STEM COMPOSITION (QUALITY). BY DEVELOPING A NEW SHORT COURSE AT AAMU AND THROUGH AN EXISTING HUDSONALPHA TRAINING PROGRAM, WE WILL EDUCATE AND INSPIRE THE NEXT GENERATION OF PLANT GENOMICISTS, WITH A FOCUS ON UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY GROUPS AND WOMEN. THE LONG TERM IMPACT WILL BE AN EXPANDED, VIBRANT BIOMASS INDUSTRY, INCREASED OPPORTUNITY FOR RURAL AMERICA, AND A DIVERSE WORKFORCE WITH THE CROSS-DISCIPLINARY SKILLS NEEDED TO SOLVE THE IMPORTANT PROBLEMS FACING AGRICULTURE AND SOCIETY. THE PROJECT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THE PROGRAM AREA BIOMASS FEEDSTOCK GENETIC DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION (A6152).