The value of native, warm-season perennial grasses grown for pasture or biofuel in the southern Great Plains, USA
James K. Rogers A B , Bryan Nichols A , Jon T. Biermacher A and Jagadeesh Mosali AA The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Pkwy, Ardmore, OK 73401, USA.
B Corresponding author. Email: jkrogers@noble.org
Crop and Pasture Science 65(6) 550-555 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP13396
Submitted: 20 November 2013 Accepted: 13 January 2014 Published: 5 May 2014
Journal Compilation © CSIRO Publishing 2014 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
The Renewable Fuel Standard under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandated the production of 60.5 GL (1 GL = 1 × 109 L) of cellulosic biofuel by 2022. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has been identified as a primary feedstock because it is a perennial adapted to a wide environmental range and produces high yields. Development of the cellulosic biofuel industry has been slow, one reason being a lack of available feedstock driven by lack of a developed market. Rather than considering it only as a dedicated biofuel feedstock, we examined switchgrass potential for both grazing and biofuel feedstock. In a series of experiments testing dry matter yield, grazing preference and animal bodyweight gain, switchgrass (cv. Alamo) was found to produce greater total yield (17.7 kg ha–1) than 15 other warm-season perennial grasses, was the most preferred by stocker cattle in a grazing preference study, and produced good average daily gains in a grazing study (0.84–1.05 kg head–1). These results demonstrate the potential of switchgrass for both grazing and biofuel feedstock. However, the feedstock price would need to increase above US$83 Mg–1 before the economics of dedicated switchgrass feedstock production would surpass that of a combination of switchgrass grazing and feedstock production.
Additional keywords: biofuel feedstock, grazing, switchgrass.
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