Evaluation of Winter Annuals for Biomass Production in Rotations with Traditional Summer Row Crops.

The progress in commercial production of cellulosic biofuels, together with a need to avoid disruption of current food, feed and fiber supplies, could rapidly lead to a shortage of land to produce biomass. However, millions of acres used for production of traditional summer row crops in the South are idle during the winter, and could be used to produce biomass from winter annuals. This 3-yr small plot study evaluated three winter annuals (black oats, rye and ryegrass) for biomass production, in rotation with three summer row crops (cotton, peanuts and soybean) that are widely grown in the South. All plots were disked and fertilized based on soil test, except for soybean and peanut plots during the summer. Rye provided significantly higher biomass yield over the three years (9.0, 5.9 and 4.6 Mg/ha in 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively) than black oats and ryegrass (P<0.10). The variation in biomass yields  was related to low temperature. Average yields of the three summer crops (cotton, peanuts and soybean ) were highest after rye, followed by yields after black oats and ryegrass in 2008 and 2010. In 2009, this  trend was not observed, possibly because of the very high rainfall during the summer growing season. We conclude that, compared to black oats and ryegrass, rye was the most suitable winter crop for biomass production in rotation with the three summer crops evaluated in this study.

 

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