Selection and improvement of herbaceous energy crops for the southeastern USA

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6660971

Bransby, D I; Sladden, S E; Kee, D E ^[1]

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1. Auburn Univ., AL (USA). Dept. of Agronomy and Soils

The general aim of this research program was to screen herbaceous species and evaluate management practices for biomass production on marginal soils in Alabama and the southeastern USA. The program started with a 5 year evaluation of selected warm-cool season species rotations. Rainfall during the 5-year program was mostly below the long-term average, except in 1989 when it was above normal. Due to low rainfall yields of perennial species took longer than expected to reach full production potential, increasing each year throughout the 5-year program. Cave-in-Rock'' switchgrass, sericea lespedeza and johnsongrass provided the highest yields from the warm season perennial species. The most significant trend in biomass composition was the notably high lignin and nitrogen content of sericea lespedeza when compared to the perennial grass species. During the course of the program additional experiments were initiated which new species and additional varieties of switchgrass. Napiergrass and energy cane provided yields from 24 to 32 Mg biomass ha{sup {minus}1} in the second and third year after establishment, but sustainability of these yields are uncertain because no severely cold weather was experienced during the experimental period. In the second year after establishment Alamo'' switchgrass yielded 17.5 Mg biomass ha{sup {minus}1}. This progress represented a major improvement on yields and production costs when compared to the original experiments. If yields of this level can be sustained and possibly improved a little more it is likely that the production basis for an economically viable herbaceous biomass-to-biofuel industry will be achieved in another 5 years. Future work should concentrate on optimizing management factors such as row spacing and harvesting regime, and on improving yield by plant breeding and selection. 5 refs., 3 figs., 29 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Auburn Univ., AL (USA). Dept. of Agronomy and Soils
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6660971
• Report Number(s): ORNL/Sub-85-27409/5; ON: DE90014769
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090700* -- Biomass Fuels-- Resources-- (1990-)
090800 -- Biomass Fuels-- Production-- (1990-)
099000 -- Biomass Fuels-- Products & By-Products-- (1990-)
AGRICULTURE
ALABAMA
ALCOHOL FUELS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BIOMASS
CEREALS
CLIMATES
COORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CROPS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION IV
FLORIDA
FORESTS
FUELS
GRASS
HARVESTING
INDUSTRY
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
MANAGEMENT
NORTH AMERICA
PLANTS
PRODUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
PROGRESS REPORT
RAIN
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SOILS
SORGHUM
SYNTHETIC FUELS
USA
WEATHER
WOOD