Evaluation of Prairie Cordgrass (Spartina pectinata Link.) for Yield Performance and Sustainable Biomass Production in Wet Marginal Land.

Growing bioenergy crops on marginal lands helps reduce land-use competition with food crops. Prairie cordgrass (PCG) (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 stress response and 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. Second-year data showed the mean biomass production for prairie cordgrass ranged from 4.3 Mg/ha to 15.5 Mg ha^-1 in the 45 cm spacing and 2.9 Mg ha^-1 to 8.9 Mg ha^-1 in the 90 cm spacing. The highest yielding prairie cordgrass was ‘PC-17-109’ in both spacings. Prairie cordgrass biomass yields, however, were low in comparison to switchgrass in both spacings (23.3 Mg ha^-1 in 45 cm and 12.2 Mg ha^-1 in 90 cm). Another study we conducted was to determine the Nitrogen (N) fertilizer removal and biomass accumulation of PCG in various N treatments including kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum Bieb.) as one of the sources of N. This study was also established on poorly drained soil (Land Capability Class 4W) in Urbana, IL. The plants were planted at 60 cm and 90 cm spacing with 0 kg ha^-1, 84 kg ha^-1, 168 kg ha^-1 and 252 kg ha^-1 N fertilizer and kura clover for N treatments and a check of ‘Cave-In-Rock’ switchgrass monoculture at 30 cm spacing. Switchgrass had the highest yield in both 2011 and 2012 (9.11 Mg ha^-1 and 8.92 Mg ha^-1 respectively). In both years the PCG-kura clover mixture plots had lowest biomass as compared to N fertilizer treatments.