Environmental effects of growing short-rotation woody crops on former agricultural lands

Conference · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:634028

Tolbert, V R ^[1]; Thornton, F C; Joslin, J D ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL (United States). Atmospheric Sciences Div.; and others

Field-scale studies in the Southeast have been addressing the environmental effects of converting agricultural lands to biomass crop production since 1994. Erosion, surface water quality and quantity and subsurface movement of water and nutrients from woody crops, switchgrass and agricultural crops are being compared. Nutrient cycling, soil physical changes and crop productivity are also being monitored at the three sites. Maximum sediment losses occurred in the spring and fall. Losses were greater from sweetgum planted without a cover crop than with a cover crop. Nutrient losses of N and P in runoff and subsurface water occurred primarily after spring fertilizer application.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 634028
• Report Number(s): ORNL/CP-96173; CONF-970856-; ON: DE98003178; BR: EB2404000; TRN: AHC2DT01%%38
• Resource Relation: Conference: 3. biomass conference of the Americas, Montreal (Canada), 24-29 Aug 1997; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
NUTRIENTS
EROSION
SOILS
TREES
AGRICULTURE
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
BIOMASS PLANTATIONS
CROPS
PRODUCTIVITY