Researchers fine-tune production of energy crops

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Agricultural Engineering; (USA)

OSTI ID:6122332

Parish, D J ^[1]

---

1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg (USA)

Renewable energy sources, plant materials that can be processed into liquid fuels, are becoming increasingly important as fossil fuel sources dwindle and environmental impacts of releasing fossilized carbon into the atmosphere become more evident. But which plant species provide the most material and can be grown on land not used to produce food, feed, and fiber Switchgrass exceeds all other herbaceous species we have tested in production of biomass on marginal sites in the Virginia Piedmont reports David J. Parrish, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) professor of crop and soil environmental sciences. In a study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at Virginia Tech, graduate student Steven Nagle, Parrish, professor Dale Wolf, and associate professor W.L. Daniels are comparing the biomass productivity of switchgrass, weeping lovegrass, and tall fescue. Since 1985, the crops - selected for their marginal crop value - have been grown on 12 sites in the Virginia Piedmont. Planting was done using no-till procedures that slice but do not turn the soil, because the sites are subject to erosion. The two warm-season grasses are harvested once a year, the fescue twice. Switchgrass has been the most productive on clay soils, and lovegrass on sandy soil. In a second DOE-sponsored study - this one by graduate student Preston Sullivan, Parish, Wolf, Daniels, and Nagle - the Virginia Tech researchers have begun to investigate planting winter-annual legumes in with switchgrass as a source of nitrogen to reduce cost of production, and as a means to increase biomass. In the fall of 1988, crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, and hairy vetch were planted into the switchgrass stubble. Other plots of switchgrass are being provided with various levels of nitrogen fertilizer to compare those yields with legume-planted plots. Crimson clover had provided the most fall growth, but by mid-May 1989, the hairy vetch had produced a dense webbing of biomass over the new switchgrass.

• OSTI ID: 6122332
• Journal Information: Agricultural Engineering; (USA), Journal Name: Agricultural Engineering; (USA) Vol. 71:2; ISSN AGENA; ISSN 0002-1458
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090800* -- Biomass Fuels-- Production-- (1990-)
BIOMASS
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES
ENERGY SOURCES
EROSION
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
GROWTH
PLANT GROWTH
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES