Location: Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research
Project Number: 3042-21500-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Feb 6, 2024
End Date: Feb 5, 2029
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop best management practices for perennial grasses to increase livestock production, provide biomass feedstocks for bioenergy, and preserve and maintain natural resources.
Subobjective 1A: Develop best management practices for rapid switchgrass establishment in the Great Plains.
Subobjective 1B: Develop integrated, diversified production systems for the Great Plains to optimize productivity and environmental benefits.
Subobjective 1C: Evaluate and develop field-scale best management practices and quantify resulting yield and composition for candidate feedstocks on marginally productive land in the Great Plains.
Objective 2: Develop new forage and biomass germplasm and cultivars for a changing climate in the central U.S. and incorporate genomic selection into breeding programs.
Subobjective 2A: Determine traits needed to improve biomass yields in switchgrass and big bluestem by exploiting genomic selection.
Subobjective 2B: Evaluate the potential of integrating high-throughput phenotyping using aerial drones into breeding switchgrass and big bluestem for biomass yields.
Subobjective 2C: Determine germplasm improvements in switchgrass by including wide crosses between octoploid and tetraploid plants.
Subobjective 2D: Improve Illinois bundleflower germplasm via breeding and determine optimal ways to intercrop with switchgrass to improve sustainable production.
Objective 3: Develop improved breeding and management criteria for forage and bioenergy crops by identifying molecular, biochemical, and plant characteristics.
Subobjective 3A: Identify molecular and biochemical outcomes of N-application and type on seed germination, root architecture, and tillering in switchgrass.
Subobjective 3B: Determine germplasm improvements in switchgrass by including wide crosses between octoploid and tetraploid plants.
Subobjective 3C: Evaluate N-fixation potential and root nodule physiology of existing and agronomically superior Illinois bundleflower germplasm.
Approach:
Project objectives are to develop best management practices for perennial grasses to increase livestock production, provide biomass feedstocks for bioenergy, and preserve and maintain natural resources (Objective 1). New forage and biomass germplasm will be screened, and cultivars developed through genomic selection for a changing climate in the Central US (Objective 2). Plant molecular, biochemical, and morphological characteristics that impact forage and bioenergy production will be investigated for improved management practices and cultivar development (Objective 3). Improved management methods will be developed to fully utilize the genetic potential of new cultivars by enhancing establishment, yield, and utilization by livestock and by the bioenergy industry. The impact of grass-legume intercropping on biomass yields and N-transfer to soils will be investigated. The project is a continuation of a long-term perennial grass research program with plant materials, management, and related studies in various stages of development and completion. Research will be conducted on C3 (cool-season) and C4 (warm-season) perennial grasses. Switchgrass, big bluestem, and Indiangrass are the primary C4 species and bromegrass is the C3 species being evaluated for use in livestock and/or bioenergy production systems. Innovative fertilizer practices are being evaluated to increase perennial grass yields and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These improved perennial grass management practices will be compared to current practices in addition to business-as-usual annual cropping systems on marginal cropland. New technologies from this research likely will improve fertilizer management for biomass feedstocks, increase biomass feedstock production, increase producer returns on marginally productive cropland, and reduce GHG emissions from marginal cropland in the Great Plains and Midwest.
