Multipurpose utilization, including as rope, pulp, and filtration media, is what makes kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) special. This experiment was conducted to select elite pedigrees with high biomass production through backcrosses. The agronomic performance, fuel characteristics, and histological analysis of the elite lines were investigated at the BC₁F₂ generation in comparison with the Control. Significant differences were observed in 12 evaluations of variety and pedigrees. Five plants, including the two Controls (Jangdae and Hongma300) and three pedigrees, showed a large difference in the number of flowering days from July 5 to September 30. The plant height of BC100-10 (447 cm) was the highest among the genotypes. Regarding branch number, BC100-15 showed the best performance with 29 branches. Stem dry weight was found to be the lowest in Jangdea at 792 g, whereas BC100-17 showed the highest dry weight. Hongma did not set seeds owing to late flowering. However, with 34 g/plant on average, three elite lines had more seeds than Jangdae (16 g/plant), which are vulnerable to decay owing to viviparous germination. In the fuel characteristics analysis, the heating value of the three elite lines ranged from 4,510 to 4,930 kcal/kg, which was much higher than that of the two Controls (4,320 kcal/kg). The ash content analysis indicated the lowest value at 3.2% for the line BC100-10, which was similar to Korea’s 3^rd-grade. Based on the histological analysis of the stem, the pedigrees were close to Hongma. Taken together, these three elite lines would be useful as genetic resources for high biomass production.

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is an annual herbaceous crop of the Malvaceae family. Recently, kenaf is being used in many diversified applications such as pulp, animal feed, bioplastics and cellulosic biofuel etc. A new cultivar 'Jangdae' was developed by mutation breeding using irradiated with 300 Gy gamma-rays. Jangdae has a few distinguishable characteristics such as early flowering, high seed yield and palmate leaf, compared to wild type (Jinju). The fresh matter (FM) and dry matter (DM) yield of Jangdae are similar to those of Jinju, their seed yield (833.3 kg/ha) is approximately 4 times higher than that of Jinju. In addition, the FM and DM yield of Jangdae are 40% higher than those of early-maturing cultivar (C11). We performed the nutritive value of four kenaf cultivars (Jangdae, Jinju, C11 and Hongma300) at 100 day after seeding. The crude protein content of Jangdae, Jinju, C11 and Honma300 were 10.5, 11.0, 9.4 and 10.6%, respectively. The crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber contents were no significant difference among the cultivars. Jangdae, which afforded both a high biomass and seed yield in South Korea, may be useful as potential source of feed and industrial materials.