Screening herbaceous lignocellulosic energy crops in temperate regions of the United States

✍ Scribed by A.F. Turhollow

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 559 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0960-8524
• DOI: 10.1016/0960-8524(91)90231-8

✦ Synopsis

Data have been collected from five species screening and selection trials in the Midwest/Lake States and in the Southeast since 1985 and from two trials in Iowa and North Dakota since 1988. Results to date indicate that species must be selected by region. Sorghum •Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] has had yields neat" 30 dry Mg ha -1 in the Midwest but only 8 to 10 dry Mg ha -~ in the Southeast. Energy cane (Saccharum spp.) and napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) have had yields near 30 dry Mg ha-1 in the Southeast. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has done well at many sites. Cool-season perennials have produced poor yields in the Southeast and moderate yields similar to warm-season perennials at wet sites in the Lake States. Double cropping with sorghum has provided mixed results. Research indicates that gains can be made by selecting within a species.