Tall Wheatgrass for Long-term Biofuel Feedstock
Project Investigator: Mark Stannard, ARS
January, 2008 Progress Report
What is known:
Tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum), as its name implies, is a very tall grass that can be found in eastern Washington pastures, CRP fields, and wildlife refuge plantings. Some of the original ‘Alkar’ tall wheatgrass pasture plantings made over 50 years ago are alive and performing well. ‘Alkar’ was developed primarily for revegetating saline lowlands and was never intended to be a biofuel. Since the release of ‘Alkar’ in 1951, several cultivars have been registered. The most recent tall wheatgrass biotype/cultivar, ‘Szarvasi 1’ was developed in Hungary. ‘Szarvasi 1’ was developed specifically for the European Union biofuel market. Promotional literature suggests that ‘Szarvasi 1’ has an energy yield that compares favorably to brown coal. Testing of ‘Szarvasi 1’ in the United States has been very limited.
Stroh and Law (1967) measured ’Alkar’ tall wheatgrass yields as high as 15,076 kg/ha at Pullman. Scheetz, Stannard, and Majerus conducted an irrigated pasture study at the Bridger, Montana Plant Materials Center in 1987-89 and reported that over 90% of the annual biomass of was attained in the first cutting. Stroh and Law measured lignin, crude fiber, and ash content of tall wheatgrass harvested at various cutting intensities. Lignin content was maximized by a single late cutting (9.65 %). Crude fiber content was maximized by a single late-season cutting (39.3 %). Ash content was least for a single late-season cutting (9.22%). They also determined that a 5 cm cutting height adversely impacted stand longevity, and a cutting height of 15 was optimal for yield and stand longevity.
What is not known:
Which biotype/cultivar is best suited for Washington’s environmental conditions? What variables can we modify to maximize production? Fertility, seeding dates, harvest dates, irrigation, and disease/weed management are variables that must be evaluated.
How much energy can we expect from a hectare of land? How much ash is produced? How efficient is it convert tall wheatgrass into a useable fuel? Is it a cost effective system? What is the most appropriate fuel type derived from tall wheatgrass?
Experimental design and preliminary observations:
A study was seeded on September 6, 2007 at the WSU IAREC (Rosa unit) by the Pullman Plant Materials Center.
RCB: 3 reps
Plot size: 8’ x 20’
Treatments:
1) ‘Largo’ tall wg 6” row spacing
2) ‘Jose’ tall wg 6” row spacing
3) ‘Alkar’ tall wg 6” row spacing
4) ‘Szarvasi 1’ tall wg 6’ row spacing
5) ‘Largo’ 12” rows
6) ‘Jose’ 12” rows
7) ‘Alkar’ 12” rows
8) ‘Szarvasi 1’ 12” rows
Note: Plant Materials Centers located at Bridger, Montana; Aberdeen, Idaho, Lockeford, California; Meeker, Colorado; and Fallon, Nevada are participating in the initial screening of the same tall wheatgrass biotypes.
Emergence was observed in all treatments two weeks later. Stands counts and leaf stages were tabulated on Sept 26, 2007. All treatments had acceptable stands and leaf stages of 1.25 – 2.5.
Heading using the h3tag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.