GCB Bioenergy (2011) 3, 13, doi: 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2010.01085.

EDITORIAL

The Evaluation of Feedstocks in GCBB Continues with a Special Issue on Agave for Bioenergy
G U E S T E D I T O R S : S A R A H C . D AV I S *w z, H O W A R D G R I F F I T H S , J O S E P H H O L T U M } a n d A L F O N S O L A R Q U E S A AV E D R A k C h i e f E d i t o r : S T E P H E N P. L O N G *w z** *Energy Biosciences Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, wDepartment of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, zInstitute of Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Urbana, IL, USA, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, }Tropical Plant Science and Agriculture, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, kCentro de Investigacion Cientca de Yucatan, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, **Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Urbana, IL, USA

We open the third year of publication and third volume of GCB-Bioenergy with our second Special Issue. The rst concerned estimating feedstock productivity via biophysical models combined with estimates of available land area and economic projections to determine the potential availability of biomass, primarily in the United States (Hellwinckel et al., 2010; Jager et al., 2010; Jain et al., 2010; West, 2010; Zhang et al., 2010). Here, we focus on the potential of a single group of plants, agaves, as a potential feedstock that will not compete with food and fodder production, while making use of degraded land. Although maize (Karlen, 2010) and sugarcane account for over 90% of the liquid biofuel produced today, there is recently a growing interest in herbaceous perennials that may be more sustainable and productive on marginal crop land (Somerville et al., 2010). Miscanthus and switchgrass have attracted particular interest as sustainable herbaceous perennials, both for the production of cellulosic ethanol and combustion (Hastings et al., 2009; Stewart et al., 2009; Jager et al., 2010). The very high yields of miscanthus in particular and its ability to maintain these annual yields with little or no fertilizer application have underlined its sustainability (Beale & Long, 1995; Beale & Long, 1997; Christian et al., 2008; Heaton et al., 2009; Davis et al., 2010). However, while miscanthus may achieve higher dry matter yields than annuals such as sorghum and maize, its water use efciency is similar, with the result that it may require 60% more water over a year (Beale et al., 1999; Hickman et al., 2010). This limits the viability of rainfed production of miscanthus and similar C4 feedstocks to areas with relatively high annual rainfall (Vanloocke et al., 2010). Arid and semiarid climate zones, dened climatically as the areas of the globe where precipitation is less than

potential evapotranspiration occupy some 3.6 billion hectares (McKnight & Hess, 2000; Whittaker & Likens, 1975). Much of this land has been degraded and is abandoned or unused (Whittaker & Likens, 1975). Clearly, it would be poorly suited or unsuited even to C4 and C3 crops, except where sustainable irrigation waters are available. However, plants that are CAM species can be highly water use efcient under these conditions and can persist for months without rain. These may therefore represent an opportunity for bioenergy production with important economic and environmental benets, and without impacting global food production or causing indirect land use change (Borland et al., 2009). Among this diverse group of plants, the genus Agave appears of particular interest given that it includes a number of crops used or formerly used for ber and for alcoholic beverages, many with high recorded productivities (Garcia-Moya et al., 2011). Because of signicant prior experience in agronomy and processing combined with potential high productivity, Agave spp. represent a new bioenergy feedstock opportunity. Although species of Agave can be culti vated in semiarid regions throughout the world, Mexico is the center of diversity and the country with the most experience in their production. However, relatively little of this knowledge can be found in English-language peer reviewed literature. To better assess this bioenergy opportunity in the context of environmental and economic sustainability, the Energy Biosciences Institute sponsored a workshop in Mexico in May of 2010. The workshop was held in Guadalajara, Jalisco near the center of the tequila industry, which provides one model for the commercial production of Agave for liquid fuel. The work of participants at the workshop that discussed the potential for new Agave feedstock crops is featured in this special issue.

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This issue demonstrates a strong foundation of knowledge that can inform the development of an Agave biofuel production chain. For example, there are detailed transcriptomic data (Simpson et al., 2011) and physiological data (Garcia-Moya et al., 2011) that can be combined with agronomic knowledge to optimize Agave cultivars for biofuel feedstocks. There are also many high-yielding Agave varieties that have not yet been explored for plantation agriculture (Garcia-Moya et al., 2011; Valenzuela, 2011). On the other hand, some species that were traditionally grown for ber have already been investigated as biofuel feedstocks (Martnez-Torres et al., 2011). Generally, chemical conversion technologies have been developed for tequila, syrups, and waxes, but are applicable for estimating potential fuel yields from Agave biomass (Davis et al., 2011). Economic incentives for the development of Agave based biofuels are also discussed in this issue. For example, in Mexico, incentives exist because there is currently a surplus of biomass grown for both tequila and ber (Nunez et al., 2011). It is unlikely that the value of biofuel from Agave will ever compete with the more highly-priced tequila commodities, but there is a need to use surplus biomass and byproducts from the tequila industry (Nunez et al., 2011). There is also a surplus of Agave biomass resulting from the disappearing ber industry in Mexico and elsewhere, and fuel conversion efciencies for leaves that were previously harvested for ber are estimated here (Martnez-Torres et al., 2011). Because of the genetic variation that exists in the Agave genus and the abundance of semi-arid regions throughout the world that could benet from an agricultural commodity like bioenergy feedstocks, there are also opportunities for Agave production beyond Mexico. The optimal yields in specic environmental conditions are likely to be species-dependent, suggesting there is a need for more research on tolerance ranges of Agave varieties (Davis et al., 2011). Field trials of varieties common to Mexico have already begun in Australia (Holtum et al., 2011), and there are vast areas of abandoned Agave plantations in Africa that might be reestablished without incurring economic and environmental costs of indirect land use change (Davis et al., 2011). The articles in this special issue collectively serve as an introduction to research on Agave as a biofuel feedstock. They clearly demonstrate that there is potential for Agave to be produced for very substantial quantities of bioenergy, and that there are environmental and economic benets to be gained by doing so in some regions of the world. While Agave represents a clear opportunity to substantially offset fossil fuel use and provide local environmental and economic benets, quantifying the scale and reality of the opportunity will require a signicant investment in establishing comparative agronomic trials and process-testing coupled with appropriate measurement of ecosystem services. This will be necessary to determine the geographical boundaries of viable commercial production and sustainability.

Acknowledgements
We thank Jenny Kokini, Assistant Deputy Director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, Dra. Sandra Rosas, Directora del CIIE of the CUCEA and Dr. Jose Ignacio Del Real Laborde of Tequila Sauza, S. de R. L. de C.V. for facilitating the workshop and associated eld visit.

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