Tjiong grass, cross of elephant grass and sugar cane, seen as potential energy crop

In Florida, a cross of African elephant grass and sugar cane, called Tjiong grass, has been found to contain 71.26 percent carbohydrates and is being investigated as a energy crop. The plant was developed by an Indonesian in the 1950s, and has been used at his farm in central Florida since the 1970s as a high-grade livestock grazing grass since the 970s. The grass has two harvests per season, and the grass’s developer said that yields are superior, quoting figures of up to 1365 gallons of ethanol per acre, per harvest.

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