Cool-season grasses produce more total biomass across the growing season than do warm-season grasses when managed with an applied irrigation gradient
Introduction
Considerable interest has been generated around the world concerning the use of plant biomass to produce energy, including economic viability, environmental impacts, and sustainability [1]. Because of high biomass production, efficient use of resources, and other desirable traits much research effort is now focused on the use of warm-season grasses (C4 photosynthesis) for bioenergy production reviewed in Ref. [2]. Particular emphasis for herbaceous biomass production in the United States has been focused on switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) [3], [4], although several different warm-season grasses have also been considered [5], [6].
Switchgrass biomass production is a focus primarily in the Great Plains, Midwest, and Transition Zone regions of the U.S., i.e., those areas east of the humid belt and to which switchgrass is native and well-adapted [7]. Extensive studies of switchgrass agronomic traits have been conducted in these areas. The focus of these studies has been harvest management [8], [9], [10], nutrient usage [11], [12], and biomass potential [13] among others. Evaluations of the potential of switchgrass as a biofuel crop proved that switchgrass production is possible in areas outside its normal region of adaptation, including Canada [14], [15] and Europe [16].
While switchgrass production has been clearly documented in humid areas of the temperate world, its potential in semi-arid regions is less understood. Although preliminary reports on the potential production of switchgrass in the western U.S. have been made [17], the only refereed publication available for semi-arid areas concerns the establishment and winter survival of warm-season grasses [18]. Thus, despite increasing interest in switchgrass production among producers in semi-arid regions, no definitive evaluations are available concerning the potential biomass production of warm-season grasses generally, and switchgrass specifically, under irrigated conditions common to higher-elevation areas of the semi-arid western U.S.
The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that production of warm-season grasses, and in particular switchgrass, under various irrigation levels provides higher biomass production than cool-season grasses under high-elevation semi-arid conditions of the western U.S.
Section snippets
Plant material
The study comprised 27 grass varieties, representing six cool- and seven warm-season grass species (Table 1). Each species was represented by one to four varieties. Warm-season species were big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis (Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths), buffalograss (Buchloë dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.), indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash.), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash), sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.)
Overall biomass production
The overall mean value for total biomass production pooled across years and ILs was 9.9 Mg ha−1 (Table 1), with variety means that ranged from 5.0 Mg ha−1 (Bad River blue grama and Cimarron little bluestem) to 23.7 Mg ha−1 (Rush intermediate wheatgrass). The overall mean value for summer biomass production pooled across years and ILs was 5.4 Mg ha−1 (Table 1), with variety means that ranged from 3.4 Mg ha−1 (Cache meadow bromegrass) and 9.9 Mg ha−1 (Blackwell switchgrass). Thus, for total and summer
Conclusions
The cool-season grasses proved to be the most productive across the entire growing season. For total biomass accumulation there appeared to be little benefit for growing warm-season grasses in the conditions. However, the warm-season grasses, particularly switchgrass, showed promise for biomass production during the summer months and may work well in a forage production scheme to overcome the declining production of the cool-season grasses during that growth period.
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