# Presentation: 167819

## Herbaceous Energy Crops Task

**Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program**
**Oak Ridge National Laboratory**
**Research Coordinator:   Sandy McLaughlin**
_**[McLaughlinsb@ornl.gov](mailto:McLaughlinsb@ornl.gov)**_
**November 8, 2001**

## ORNL - BFDP Switchgrass Research

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**ORNL - BFDP Switchgrass Research**

**Breeding**
**Tissue Culture**
**Basic Studies**
**Field Trials**
**NRCS - Test****1**
**Scaleup**

- OSU

- TAM

- ORNL

- UT

- VPI

- AU

- ARS/UNE

- UGA

- UW

**1****ARS-NRDC Plant Materials**
** ****Testing Centers - Variety**
** ****Evaluation**

- 1

## Crop Management Studies

**Focus**
**Establishment**
**Row spacing**** **
**Harvest timing**** **
**Nitrogen fertilization**** **
**Nutrient uptake**** **
**Rotation**
**Irrigation**

## Biomass Yield of Best Performing Varieties at E.V. Smith Research Center, Tallassee, Alabama

## Improving Switchgrass through Breeding

**Evaluation of fast-track breeding approaches**** **
**Deployment of new lines to diverse field sites**** **
**Evaluation of narrow-base synthetics**** **
**Techniques and strategies for seed increase and commercial-scale seed production**

**Improving Switchgrass through Breeding**

## Basic Research Applied to SWG Production

**Carbon storage and sequestration in soils**** **
**Soil microbiology**** **
**Molecular biology**

**Basic Research Applied to SWG Production**

## Slide 7

## Soil Carbon Dynamics Beneath Switchgrass

**19-31% of SOC inventories derived from SWG inputs**** **
**Turnover times:  Labile OM  2.4 - 3.3 y****                             Protected OM  26 - 40 y**** **
**Annual C gain predicted:  1.2% per year (0-40 cm)**** **
**Early estimates of gain:**
**from 8 mid-Atlantic sites****(0-10 cm)    1.16% per year**** **
**from 5 Texas sites****(0-30 cm)   6.2% per year**** **
**Estimates of Soil Microbial Biomass from Texas indicate that SMBC/SOC increased for most soils in which Alamo SWG was grown**

**Soil Carbon Dynamics Beneath Switchgrass**

## Soil Carbon Sequestration Under Switchgrass

- Predicted changes in total soil C and C associated with particulate organic matter (POM-C) and mineral-associated organic matter (MOM-C) under switchgrass grown on soil with a high initial C stock in a cool climate and soil with a low initial soil C stock in a warm climate (MAT = mean annual temperature).

## Northern Great Plains Research Center

**Northern Great Plains Research Center**

**Participants**
**USDA/ARS, Lincoln, NE, USDA/ARS, Mandan, ND, South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, ND**** **
**Objective**
**To evaluate and develop the economic potential of switchgrass as a bioenergy crop for the upper great plains**** **
**Tasks**
**Evaluate **_**relative yield performance**_** of existing SWG varieties across an East/West moisture gradient in ND and SD**
**Quantify **_**farm-scale biomass production**_** potential and economic costs based on twelve 10-20 acre fields and farmer operated production**
**Evaluate **_**CRP grassland productivity and wildlife potential**_** when managed for biomass and wildlife production potential**
_**Breed for improved biomass production**_** potential within the region based on growth habit, cold tolerance, and drought resistance.**
**Conduct **_**basic studies**_** to characterize key aspects of SWG production biology**
**Water and nutrient uptake and utilization**
**Soil carbon accumulation and turnover**
**Establishment research**
**Disease evaluation**

## Developing and Evaluating Molecular Markers for Switchgrass

**ORNL, Univ. of Georgia, others in the future**** **
**Objective**
**To evaluate the potential for molecular mapping to increase our capabilities to improve switchgrass through marker-aided selection**** **
**Tasks**
**Establish a mapping SWG population that exhibits variations in quantitative traits**
**Evaluate several types and combinations of molecular markers (SDRF, RAPD, and SSR) to produce a molecular map relating mapping loci to quantitative traits**
**Establish relationships among ploidy level and gametic segregation patterns**

**Developing and Evaluating Molecular Markers for Switchgrass**

## Some Targets for Marker-Aided Selection in Switchgrass

**Cold tolerance**
**Drought tolerance**
**Flowering date**
**Disease resistance**
**Herbicide tolerance**
**Cell wall chemistry**

**Some Targets for Marker-Aided Selection in Switchgrass**

## Potential switchgrass production density within the U.S. by agricultural supply cells.  Projected production density is based on the distribution of land that converts from conventional agriculture to switchgrass production at a farmgate price of  $44 Mg-1 ($55 Mg-1 delivered).

## Influence of costs and benefits of switchgrass production on costs of energy embodied in switchgrass as a renewable energy feedstock  

|  |                 Production Characteristics |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Farm gate price $Mg-1) | 30.31 | 44 | 52.37 |
| Hectares planted to switchgrass (millions) | 3.1 | 16.9 | 21.3 |
| Yield (Mg ha-1) | 11.1 | 9.4 | 9.0 |
|  |                   Costs or Benefits in Millions of $ |  |  |
| Increased farm revenue | 1311 | 5925 | 7745 |
| Reduced government subsidies | 1253 | 4035 | 5770 |
| Increased consumer costs1 | -1600 | -5115 | -5118 |
| Reduced carbon emissions |     571 |   2637 |   3182 |
|      Net benefits to society | 1535 | 7428 | 11579 |
|  |                   Costs or Benefits of Switchgrass Fuel |  |  |
| Delivered cost ($ Mg-1) | 37.3 | 53.8 | 62.3 |
| Benefits ($ Mg-1) | 44.6 | 47.1 | 60.4 |
| Delivered costs ($ GJ-1)2 | 2.02 | 2.91 | 3.37 |
| Benefits ($ GJ-1) |   2.41 |   2.55 |   3.27 |
|      Net energy costs ($ GJ-1) | -0.39 | 0.36 | 0.10 |

- 1Consumer costs include increases in both domestic and foreign consumer costs.
- 2Based on an energy content of 18.50 GJ Mg-1 of dry switchgrass

## Research Themes in Herbaceous Energy Crops 2002-2006

**Breeding**
**Population improvement**
**Narrow-base synthetics**
**Adaptation for environmental stress**
**Cold**
**Drought**
**Low fertility**
**Disease**
**Breeding behavior and potential**
**New variety release**
**Variety Studies**
**Long-term yield stability**
**Testing new lines**
**Scaleup Studies**
**On-farm trials (15 acres x 11 sites)**
**Economic analysis**

## Research Themes in Herbaceous Energy Crops 2002-2006 (continued)

**Establishment studies**
**Nurse crops**
**Herbicide combinations**
**Seedling vigor studies**
**Soil-borne pathogens**
**Seed after ripening**
**Fertility Management**
**Variable N rates**
**Management of CRP for bioenergy**
**Broiler litter for N&P**
**Legume interplanting**
**Carryover yield enhancement**
**Basic Studies**
**Carbon and N dynamics**
**C and N modeling**
**Molecular markers in SWG**
**Clonal propagation and transformation of SWG**

## Can Switchgrass Breeding and Production Research Make a Difference?

| Targets for Improvement |  |  | +10% Yield
-10% Production costs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Increased production acres with improvements starting from $35/DT base |  |  |  |
|  | Millions of Acres Increase |  |  |
| Base | +10% Yield | -10% Cost | Both |
| 37.9 | 4.85 | 14.1 | 18.2 |
| *Value of increased acreage based on added value of $200/ac |  |  |  |
|  | Millions of Dollars |  |  |
| Base | +10% Yield | -10% Cost | Both |
| 0 | 975 | 2,820 | 3,640 |
| SUMMARY |  |  |  |
| Annual cost of BFDP herbaceous crops research |  |  | = $1.5 M/Y |
| Potential societal gains from added values of switchgrass produced |  |  | = $975 - $3,640 M/Y |