Integrated production of warm season grasses and agroforestry for biomass production
Conference
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OSTI ID:140292
- Resource Efficient Agricultural Production-Canada, Ste, Anne de Bellevue, Quebec (Canada)
- McGill Univ., Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec (Canada)
Increased research on C{sub 3} and C{sub 4} perennial biomass crops is generating a significant amount of information on the potential of these crops to produce large quantities of low cost biomass. In many parts of North America it appears that both C{sub 3} and C{sub 4} species are limited by water availability particularly on marginal soils. In much of North America, rainfall is exceeded by evaporation. High transpiration rates by fast growing trees and rainfall interception by the canopy appear to indicate that this can further exacerbate the problem of water availability. C{sub 4} perennial grasses appear to have distinct advantages over C{sub 3} species planted in monoculture systems particularly on marginal soils. C{sub 4} grasses historically predominated over much of the land that is now available for biomass production because of their adaptation to low humidity environments and periods of low soil moisture. The planting of short rotation forestry (SRF) species in an energy agroforestry system is proposed as an alternative production strategy which could potentially alleviate many of the problems associated with SRF monocultures. Energy agroforestry would be complementary to both production of conventional farm crops and C{sub 4} perennial biomass crops because of beneficial microclimatic effects.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 140292
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP--200-5768-Vol.1; CONF-9308106--Vol.1; ON: DE93010050
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1990
· Energy Sources; (United States)
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OSTI ID:5769763