Soil Organic Carbon Changes in Reclaimed Minesoils Planted with Miscanthus for Biofuel Production.

ABSTRACT

Miscanthus × giganteus is a highly productive rhizomatous C₄ perennial grass adapted to a wide range of climatic and soil conditions.  In recent years it has emerged as a promising energy crop, predominantly due to its high production potential in temperate climatic conditions, lower nutrients input requirements and high biomass production potential. However, land requirement for dedicated biofuel crop production may become a limiting factor for achieving the renewable fuel requirement mandate. Therefore, field trials to assess the biomass production carbon sequestration potential for Miscanthus in reclaimed minesoils (marginal land) of Southeastern Ohio were been established in 2012. The site had been under native C₃ grass twenty five years since reclamation prior to establishment of Miscanthus. This paper will compare the carbon sequestration Miscanthus, corn, and under native C₃ grass in reclaimed minesoils. For the first two years of the experiment, the corn plots lost soil organic carbon, while Miscanthus plots lost soil organic carbon in the first year and regained some of the lost soil organic carbon in the second year compared to undisturbed native C₃ grass.