Sustainable Biomass Feedstock Production on Wet Marginal Land.

Bioenergy crop production on marginal lands can help reduce land-use competition between energy and food crops and can have positive impact on environment. Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Link.) is a tall, rhizomatous perennial grass indigenous to many regions throughout the United States and Canada. It has the capability to tolerate salt and alkaline conditions, low temperatures, and seasonal flooding; therefore it can be grown on variety of marginal settings.  Our objective was to evaluate prairie cordgrass for biomass production potential on marginally productive land which is too wet for row crops. A comparison study of biomass yield and performance trials were established on poorly drained soil (Land Capability Class 4W) in Urbana, IL, with Miscanthus x giganteus, big bluestem (Andropogan gerardii Vitman), ‘Kanlow’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and four accessions of prairie cordgrass with 45 and 90 cm row spacing during the spring of 2010. Third-year data showed the mean biomass production for prairie cordgrass ranged from 13.3 Mg/ha to 24.8 Mg ha^-1 in the 45 cm spacing and 11.5 Mg ha^-1 to 16.6 Mg ha^-1 in the 90 cm spacing. The highest yielding prairie cordgrass was ‘PC-17-109’ in 45 cm spacing while it was 20-107 in 90cm spacing. Prairie cordgrass biomass yields, were low in comparison to switchgrass in both spacings (29.7 Mg ha^-1 in 45 cm and 16.3 Mg ha^-1 in 90 cm), except from that of 20-107 in 90 cm spacing, however it was not significantly different in both spacing.