skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

Journal Article · · Global Change Biology. Bioenergy
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12493· OSTI ID:1613531
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [5];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [8];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14]; ORCiD logo [15];  [16];  [17] more »;  [18];  [12];  [19];  [20];  [21];  [22];  [23];  [7];  [24];  [25];  [26];  [27];  [28];  [29];  [16];  [22];  [4];  [30];  [4];  [31];  [4];  [32];  [19];  [5];  [4];  [5];  [33];  [10];  [19];  [31];  [34];  [1];  [6];  [6];  [28];  [35];  [28];  [36] « less
  1. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Crop Sciences
  2. North Dakota State Univ., Carrington, ND (United States). Carrington Research Extension Center
  3. USDA-ARS, Tifton, GA (United States)
  4. Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS (United States). Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences
  5. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences
  6. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States). Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences
  7. Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States). Dept. of Plant Biology
  8. Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States). Crop and Soil Sciences Dept.
  9. Auburn Univ., AL (United States). Dept. of Agronomy and Soils
  10. Chromatin, Inc., Lubbock, TX (United States)
  11. Montana State Univ., Moccasin, MT (United States). Central Agricultural Research Center
  12. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). PRISM Climate Group. Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering
  13. Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States). Odum School of Ecology
  14. Oklahoma State Univ., Haskell, OK (United States). Eastern Research Station
  15. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
  16. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States). Dept. of Agronomy and Horticulture
  17. AgriReliant Genetics, Ivesdale, IL (United States)
  18. Louisiana State Univ. Sugar Research Station, St. Gabriel, LA (United States)
  19. USDA-ARS, Houma, LA (United States). Sugarcane Research Unit
  20. Univ. of Georgia, Tifton, GA (United States). Crop and Soil Sciences Dept.
  21. Kansas State Univ., Hays, KS (United States). Agricultural Research Center
  22. Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States). Dept. of Agronomy
  23. North Carolina State Univ., Plymouth, NC (United States). Vernon G. James Research and Extension Center
  24. Pusan National Univ., Miryang (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Life Science and Environmental Biochemistry
  25. Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK (United States). Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences
  26. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States). Division of Plant Sciences
  27. Mississippi State Univ., Raymond, MS (United States). Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center
  28. Texas A & M Univ., Beaumont, TX (United States). Texas A&M AgriLife - Beaumont
  29. Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States). Center for Applied Genetic Technologies
  30. Texas A & M Univ., Corpus Christi, TX (United States). Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center
  31. Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States). Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Science
  32. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). News and Public Affairs. College of ACES
  33. Univ. of Nebraska, Ithaca, NE (United States). Dept. of Agronomy & Horticulture
  34. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Plant Breeding and Genetics Dept.
  35. Waypoint Analytical, Champaign, IL (United States)
  36. South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States). North Central Sun Grant Regional Center
+ Show Author Affiliations

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long-term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field-scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm-scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM-ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country.

Research Organization:
South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
FC36-05GO85041
OSTI ID:
1613531
Journal Information:
Global Change Biology. Bioenergy, Vol. 10, Issue 10; ISSN 1757-1693
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 44 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (45)

Energy Sorghum--a genetic model for the design of C4 grass bioenergy crops journal June 2014
Sorghum bicolor’s Transcriptome Response to Dehydration, High Salinity and ABA journal July 2005
High-parent heterosis for biomass yield in photoperiod-sensitive sorghum hybrids journal October 2014
Biomass Production of ‘Alamo’ Switchgrass in Response to Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Row Spacing journal January 2001
Grain sorghum is a viable feedstock for ethanol production journal January 2008
Recent land use change in the Western Corn Belt threatens grasslands and wetlands journal February 2013
Meta-analysis of the effects of management factors on Miscanthus×giganteus growth and biomass production journal July 2008
Energy sorghum hybrids: Functional dynamics of high nitrogen use efficiency journal September 2013
Bioenergy and Wildlife: Threats and Opportunities for Grassland Conservation journal October 2009
Nitrogen use in switchgrass grown for bioenergy across the USA journal November 2013
Registration of ‘L 79-1002’ Sugarcane journal January 2008
Switchgrass nitrogen response and estimated production costs on diverse sites journal April 2017
Miscanthus × giganteus productivity: the effects of management in different environments journal December 2011
Biomass Production and Composition of Perennial Grasses Grown for Bioenergy in a Subtropical Climate Across Florida, USA journal June 2013
Sorghum bicolor — an important species for comparative grass genomics and a source of beneficial genes for agriculture journal April 2002
Switchgrass production for the upper southeastern USA: Influence of cultivar and cutting frequency on biomass yields journal March 2006
Species Composition Changes in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Grassland When Managed for Biomass Feedstock Production: Species Composition Changes in CRP... journal June 2016
Impacts of management practices on bioenergy feedstock yield and economic feasibility on Conservation Reserve Program grasslands journal February 2016
Genetic Control of a Photoperiod-Sensitive Response in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench journal January 1999
Designing sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock journal October 2007
Switchgrass as a sustainable bioenergy crop journal April 1996
Yield potential and stand establishment for 20 candidate bioenergy feedstocks journal February 2015
Latitudinal Adaptation of Switchgrass Populations journal January 2004
Long-term yield potential of switchgrass-for-biofuel systems journal March 2006
Switchgrass Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer Across Diverse Environments in the USA: a Regional Feedstock Partnership Report journal June 2014
Miscanthus: European experience with a novel energy crop journal October 2000
Perennial Biomass Grasses and the Mason–Dixon Line: Comparative Productivity across Latitudes in the Southern Great Plains journal September 2012
Agronomic and physiological performances of different species of Miscanthus , a major energy crop. A review journal April 2010
Twenty-Year Biomass Yields of Eight Switchgrass Cultivars in Alabama journal April 2014
Yield Results and Stability Analysis from the Sorghum Regional Biomass Feedstock Trial journal March 2014
Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Nitrate Leaching, and Biomass Yields from Production of Miscanthus × giganteus in Illinois, USA journal April 2012
Meeting US biofuel goals with less land: the potential of Miscanthus journal September 2008
Yield, Yield Distribution, and Forage Quality of Warm-Season Perennial Grasses Grown for Pasture or Biofuel in the Southern Great Plains journal January 2012
The Influence of Hybrid Maturity and Planting Date on Sweet Sorghum Productivity during a Harvest Season journal January 2013
Corn-Based Ethanol Production and Environmental Quality: A Case of Iowa and the Conservation Reserve Program journal August 2009
Miscanthus for Renewable Energy Generation: European Union Experience and Projections for Illinois journal October 2004
Nitrogen and harvest management of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland for sustainable biomass feedstock production journal May 2012
Switchgrass for forage and bioenergy: harvest and nitrogen rate effects on biomass yields and nutrient composition journal April 2010
Modeling spatial and dynamic variation in growth, yield, and yield stability of the bioenergy crops Miscanthus × giganteus and Panicum virgatum across the conterminous United States journal December 2011
Switchgrass Biomass Production in the Midwest USA journal January 2002
Effect of nitrogen addition on Miscanthus  ×  giganteus yield, nitrogen losses, and soil organic matter across five sites journal August 2014
The use of dna sequencing (ITS and trnL-F), AFLP, and fluorescent in situ hybridization to study allopolyploid Miscanthus (Poaceae) journal February 2002
Cytological and Morphological Variation in Panicum virgatum L. journal January 1975
The Biology and Agronomy of Switchgrass for Biofuels journal September 2005
Impact of row spacing, nitrogen rate, and time on carbon partitioning of switchgrass journal June 2001

Cited By (10)

Economic comparative advantage of willow biomass in the Northeast USA journal October 2018
Machine learning to predict biomass sorghum yields under future climate scenarios journal February 2020
Italian ryegrass–rice rotation system for biomass production and cadmium removal from contaminated paddy fields journal October 2019
Sugarcane Biomass, Dry Matter, and Sucrose Availability and Variability When Grown on a Bioenergy Feedstock Production Cycle journal November 2018
Perennial Bioenergy Crop Yield and Quality Response to Nitrogen Fertilization journal November 2019
Diverse lignocellulosic feedstocks can achieve high field-scale ethanol yields while providing flexibility for the biorefinery and landscape-level environmental benefits journal July 2018
Soil hydrological properties as influenced by long‐term nitrogen application and landscape positions under switchgrass seeded to a marginal cropland journal March 2019
Impact of warm‐season grass management on feedstock production on marginal farmland in Central Illinois journal May 2019
Systematic application of a quantitative definition of marginal lands in estimating biomass energy potential in the Missouri/Mississippi River Corridor text January 2019
Full-Length Transcriptome Assembly of Italian Ryegrass Root Integrated with RNA-Seq to Identify Genes in Response to Plant Cadmium Stress journal February 2020

Similar Records

Sun Grant/DOE Regional Feedstock Partnership: Final Technical Report
Technical Report · Thu Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · OSTI ID:1613531
Regional Feedstock Partnership Biomass Quality Assessment Final Report
Technical Report · Tue Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · OSTI ID:1613531
+8 more
Environmental limitation mapping of potential biomass resources across the conterminous U nited S tates
Journal Article · Mon Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Global Change Biology. Bioenergy · OSTI ID:1613531
+1 more

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS