A Species Comparison of Summer Switchgrass to Selected Germplasm of Prairie Cordgrass.

TITLE

Selecting adapted Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) for cellulostic biofuels production in North Dakota.

ABSTRACT

Agriculture in North Dakota has a strong characteristic of investigating and adopting diversified crops.  Diversified cropping systems could minimize farming risk, provide sustainable production, and increase environmental conservation.  To examine the benefits of alternative crops the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center initiated a comparison study in 2007.  The goal of the study is to determine the yield potential for selected Prairie Cordgrass germplasm in relation to Summer Switchgrass, a top yielder for our location based on earlier studies, on a disturbed upland site and an undisturbed lowland site. 

Year, which provided significantly different environments and growing seasons, also impacted biomass production. The 2008 growing season was drier and the plants were not fully established by the 2008 harvest were significantly lower than the wetter 2009 growing season.  Location had a significant impact on biomass yield and harvest moisture.  In general, biomass yield was significantly lower in disturbed upland site compared to the undisturbed lowland site.   However, the switchgrass yield was less affected by the poorer soil on the upland site compared to the Prairie Cordgrass.