Dhaka, March 3, ’14. According  to a news itempublished in the February issue of Crop Biotech,  the researchers affiliated to a multi-institutional team from the University of Illinois claim to have evolved sugarcane varieties that can grow outside its geographic range showing enhanced photosynthetic rate by 30 percent turning into  an oil-producing crop for biodieselproduction.   Since sorghum is  closely related to sugarcane they think that the initiative will also turn sorghum into even more productive oil-generating plants. By crossing their sugarcane varieties with the perennial grass Miscanthus the team has increased the cold tolerance of sugarcane but they require tobackcross their  hybrid  several times to restore the other attributes of sugarcane while preserving its cold tolerance. According to the team leader, Dr. Stephen Long, they have embarked upon this project with a view to increasing its cold tolerance combined with more productivity both in terms of contents of sugar and oil.