Field Evaluation of Bioenergy Crops Performance On Saline Soils Under Arid Conditions.

USDA estimates that about 27 million acres are required for producing 36 billion gallons of bioenergy by 2022 to meet congressionally mandated Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS2) goal.This can put immense pressure on agricultural systems. Corn (Zea mays) is the current biofuel crop of choice but it is a resource (fertilizers, insecticide, herbicide and water) intensive crop. Meeting RFS2 goal by corn alone can impair soil and water qualities. Second generation bioenergy crops such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), energy sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and canola (Brassica napus) require less intensive practices. Finding additional land to produce bioenergy is a huge challenge. Producing second generation bioenergy crops on vast abandoned saline lands in the southwest U.S. with marginal quality waters (saline groundwater/recycling urban wastewater) can be an attractive strategy. This might help obtaining dependable feedstock supplies and reduce investment risk in the bioenergy industry. Before large investments are made in these potential bioenergy crops, it is critical to examine productivity of bioenergy crops under elevated salinity and their impacts on soil, water quality and other associated ecosystem. This study reports the second generation bioenergy crops performance under arid saline field conditions and changes in soil to assess productivity of the proposed candidate bioenergy crops, under soil and water quality constraints.