Title: Comparative establishment and yield of bioenergy sorghum and maize following pre–emergence waterlogging

Journal Article · · Agronomy Journal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20832 · OSTI ID:1823608
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); CABBI
  2. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Biofuel feedstocks grown on marginal lands, such as those that experience ephemeral waterlogging, reduce interference with food agriculture. As early-season extreme precipitation events in the U.S. Midwest continue to increase, waterlogging tolerance may play an important role in the productivity of annual biofuel cropping systems. We assessed the establishment and yield of photoperiod-sensitive sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and maize (Zea mays L.) after extreme early-season rainfall events in central Illinois. We used paired sorghum and maize transects, spanning from low-lying poorly drained areas to higher better drained areas, to evaluate the response of both cropping systems throughout the 2020 growing season. Sorghum maintained 25% mean emergence rates in areas that experienced the most severe waterlogging, but maize failed to establish under the same conditions. Despite the low establishment, sorghum yields in the poorly drained areas were upwards of 50% of those found in the better drained, whereas maize yields were zero areas in the poorly drained locations. The yield compensation in sorghum resulted from increased tillering, higher productivity per stem, and subsequently higher productivity per plant, which illustrates the greater phenotypic plasticity of sorghum compared to maize. Land managers who are currently seeking to grow annual cellulosic feedstocks on soils that are vulnerable to transient soil waterlogging will likely have more success with photoperiod-sensitive bioenergy sorghum than maize.

Research Organization:
Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018420
OSTI ID:
1823608
Journal Information:
Agronomy Journal, Journal Name: Agronomy Journal Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 113; ISSN 0002-1962
Publisher:
Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science SocietiesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (44)

Impacts and management strategies for crop production in waterlogged or flooded soils: A review journal March 2020
Precipitation extremes over the continental United States in a transient, high-resolution, ensemble climate model experiment: U.S. PRECIPITATION EXTREMES WITH WARMING journal July 2013
A spatiotemporal analysis of Midwest US temperature and precipitation trends during the growing season from 1980 to 2013: MIDWEST GROWING SEASON CLIMATE TRENDS 1980-2013 journal April 2015
Response of maize to three short-term periods of waterlogging at high and low nitrogen levels on undisturbed and repacked soil journal October 1987
The response of sorghum and sunflower to short-term waterlogging: IV. Water and nutrient uptake effects journal February 1986
The response of sorghum and sunflower to short-term waterlogging: I. Effects of stage of development and duration of waterlogging on growth and yield journal February 1984
Altered Belowground Carbon Cycling Following Land-Use Change to Perennial Bioenergy Crops journal January 2013
Historical soil drainage mediates the response of soil greenhouse gas emissions to intense precipitation events journal January 2019
Stress-Tolerant Feedstocks for Sustainable Bioenergy Production on Marginal Land journal February 2015
Genotype-Environment-Management Interactions in Biomass Yield and Feedstock Composition of Photoperiod-Sensitive Energy Sorghum journal March 2021
Increased crop damage in the US from excess precipitation under climate change journal October 2002
Screening Methods for Waterlogging Tolerance at Maize (Zea mays L.) Seedling Stage journal March 2010
Tolerance to excess moisture in maize (Zea mays L.): susceptible crop stages and identification of tolerant genotypes journal December 2004
Impacts of vegetative and reproductive plasticity associated with tillering in maize crops in low-yielding environments: A physiological framework journal May 2021
The effect of row spacing and seeding rate on biomass production and plant stand characteristics of non-irrigated photoperiod-sensitive sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) journal May 2012
More frequent intense and long-lived storms dominate the springtime trend in central US rainfall journal November 2016
Yield stability analysis reveals sources of large-scale nitrogen loss from the US Midwest journal April 2019
Effects of nitrogen fertilizer rates and waterlogging on leaf physiological characteristics and grain yield of maize journal July 2020
Waterproofing Crops: Effective Flooding Survival Strategies journal October 2012
Germination, Respiration, and Adenylate Energy Charge of Seeds at Various Oxygen Partial Pressures journal November 1985
Excessive rainfall leads to maize yield loss of a comparable magnitude to extreme drought in the United States journal April 2019
Demand for biomass to meet renewable energy targets in the United States: implications for land use journal April 2017
Ecosystem‐scale biogeochemical fluxes from three bioenergy crop candidates: How energy sorghum compares to maize and miscanthus journal December 2020
Farmers' heterogeneous perceptions of marginal land for biofuel crops in US Midwestern states considering biophysical and socioeconomic factors journal March 2021
Optimal leaf area indices in C3 and C4 mono- and dicotyledonous species at low and high nitrogen availability journal December 1995
Response of Sorghum to Abiotic Stresses: A Review journal December 2012
Cellulosic biofuel contributions to a sustainable energy future: Choices and outcomes journal June 2017
Seasonal differences in plant responses to flooding and anoxia journal December 2003
Springtime Intensification of the Great Plains Low-Level Jet and Midwest Precipitation in GCM Simulations of the Twenty-First Century journal December 2008
Variability and Transitions in Precipitation Extremes in the Midwest United States journal March 2021
Varietal Differences and Diallel Analysis of Pre-germination Flloding Tolerance of Sorghum Seed. journal January 1993
Food vs. Fuel: Diversion of Crops Could Cause More Hunger journal June 2008
How Maize Seeds and Seedlings Cope with Oxygen Deficit journal October 1995
Pre‐emergence Flooding and Nitrogen Atmosphere Effects on Germinating Corn Inbreds journal May 1990
Chlorophyll Measurements and Nitrogen Nutrition Index for the Evaluation of Corn Nitrogen Status journal September 2008
Long-term Biomass and Potential Ethanol Yields of Annual and Perennial Biofuel Crops journal January 2019
Reduced Nitrogen Losses after Conversion of Row Crop Agriculture to Perennial Biofuel Crops journal January 2013
Corn Replant Decisions: A Review journal April 1990
Predicting Tillering of Diverse Sorghum Germplasm across Environments journal October 2016
Marginal Lands to Grow Novel Bio-Based Crops: A Plant Breeding Perspective journal March 2020
Prairies Thrive Where Row Crops Drown: A Comparison of Yields in Upland and Lowland Topographies in the Upper Midwest US journal May 2016
Spatiotemporal Derivation of Intermittent Ponding in a Maize–Soybean Landscape from Planet Labs CubeSat Images journal June 2020
Effects of waterlogging on the yield and growth of summer maize under field conditions journal January 2014
Genetic, evolutionary and plant breeding insights from the domestication of maize journal March 2015

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES