Development of Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.) Pedigrees with Superior Characteristics through Backcross

Abstract

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), which belongs to the family of Malvaceae, is an annual C3 and a common warm season fiber plant native to India and Africa (Yazan et al. 2011).It is one of the most important fibre crops in the world. It has been cultivated and used twine, rope, gunny bag, sackcloth, pulping and paper making, oil absorption, potting media, board making, filtration media and animal feed (Dempsey 1975, Sellers & Reichert 1999, Cheng 2001, Charles 2002. Also, the seeds are good source of low cholesterol vegetable oil and for biodiesel production (Webber & Bledsoe 1993).Although kenaf is a tropical plant, its cultivars are now well adapted to a wide geographical and climatic range (Danalatos & Archontoulis 2010). Its height reaches 4-6 m in about 4-5 months and a yield is 6-10 tonnes of dry mass per acre each year, which is 3-5 times greater than the yield for the southern pine tree taking 7-40 years to be used (LeMahieu et al. 2003).The 'green tag' is further associated with kenaf because of its promising growth, and scavenges extensive amounts of Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere. It is the most abundant gas which could give severe effects to the global warming. So, kenaf is the best suitable resource to go green.The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) has been operated in 44 countries including USA, Japan, and so forth. Since 2012, it has been implemented in Korea. The policy's aim is to increase expansion of a new renewable energy to decrease the CO 2 of an atmosphere. So, a lot of wood pellet