Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Cup plant is potential new biomass/carbon storage crop
Cup plant is potential new biomass/carbon storage crop
Cup plants get 12 feet tall in wet years even in the peace-circle garden of World Peace Wetland Prairie. Please click on individual images to enlarge view of cup plants on July 18, 2010, in peace-circle garden of WPWP, some knocked down by recent powerful rainstorms.
ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010) — South Dakota State University research is exploring a native perennial called cup plant as a potential new biomass crop that could also store carbon in its extensive root system and add biodiversity to biomass plantings.
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Researchers are exploring whether cup plant could be grown in low, moist prairies generally unfit for cropland. It would be grown and processed along with native grasses grown for biomass.
"We anticipate down the road there's going to be a need and maybe even a market for plants that can store carbon under ground and be part of a biomass production system," SDSU professor Arvid Boe said.
Boe, a plant breeder, is the lead investigator on a grant of $324,336 from the U.S. Department of Energy channeled through the SDSU-based North Central Sun Grant Center. Project goals include studying genetic variation and developing molecular markers in cup plant populations from the eastern Great Plains; developing new cultivars that can be grown in combination with other biomass crops; determining best practices such as seeding rate, row spacing, harvest timing and nutrient management so that producers will know how to grow the plant; determining life histories of insect pests; and determining biochemical composition.
Boe said cup plant, or Silphium perfoliatum, is a member of the sunflower family found in moist low ground in the eastern Great Plains, where it can grow more than 7 feet tall. It has large seeds and good seedling vigor, and it yields a lot of biomass.
"It's conspicuous in the prairie as a very productive forb in a tallgrass prairie where you have your major grasses such as big bluestem, switchgrass and prairie cordgrass," Boe said. "We haven't come up with too many things to grow with our grasses to add biodiversity to these biofuel mixtures that we're anticipating growing down the road. It's very compatible with such things as switchgrass and prairie cordgrass and big bluestem."
Boe said scientists don't envision planting entire fields of cup plant. Instead they view it as one in a mix of biomass species that would be seeded in zones best suited for them, just as in the original tallgrass prairie. Boe and his colleagues -- borrowing a term used years ago by conservationist Erling Jacobson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service -- speak of "sculpting the landscape" with native grasses best suited to different locations in the prairie.
"We don't necessarily have a mix at any particular area, but we have various species wherever they're best adapted on the landscape. It doesn't make any sense for us to have mix switchgrass, big bluestem and prairie cordgrass together and plant it over a whole field. After five years, the species that are best adapted are going to take over anyway in their particular niche," Boe said.
"We're going to go in and we're going to plant essentially monocultures of these various species where they were in the original tallgrass prairie. There were monocultural stands in the tallgrass prairie, but they were zonal."
Cup plant is probably best suited to the same kind of terrain that switchgrass likes, Boe said, just above the prairie cordgrass zone, and possibly all the way up to the edge of the big bluestem zone.
"It fits the low prairie or moist prairie-type environment that we're shooting for and might even work out pretty well with prairie cordgrass," Boe said. "So we add diversity to that low prairie environment that is marginal land not suitable for cropland and also not a good environment for switchgrass to grow. We're not taking cropland out of production to put cup plant in there. We think it will grow in areas where crops wouldn't survive or couldn't even be planted on a regular basis."
Cup plant is likely to increase biodiversity in a plant community because it attracts a variety of insects and even birds. Goldfinches drink out of the leaves, and the stems provide perch areas for grassland birds.
SDSU professor Paul Johnson, an entomologist, adds that SDSU is also interested in a species of moth called Eucosma giganteana, first described by a scientist in 1881, that seems to have cup plant as its only host plant.
"In South Dakota, the giant eucosma has recently become more than just another interesting prairie insect because of interest in using cup plant as a biomass crop," Johnson said.
Larvae feed in the rapidly growing terminal structures, especially buds, where the damage can be extensive, often leading to complete loss of floral production. The end result can be significant loss of biomass through stunting and loss of vigor in the plants.
"Turning cup plant into a commodity thus converts the giant eucosma into a pest of significant concern," Johnson said.
"It's another case of a native prairie plant becoming a crop and the conversion of a previously neglected native plant predator to a pest."
Johnson is studying the life history of the giant eucosma as part of the SDSU project.
Perennial grasses will always be the base for biomass production, but cup plant is a complementary species, scientists say. Increasing number of species in the mix reduces probability of plant disease and insect pests attacking one species and causing large losses in yield.
Besides Boe and Johnson, other investigators in the project including forage researcher Vance Owens, plant scientist Catherine Carter and biochemist Duane Matthees, all of SDSU; Alex Kahler of Brookings, S.D.-based Biogenetic Services; and professor Ken Albrecht of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an agronomist. University of Wisconsin research has already looked at cup plant as a perennial silage crop, but exploring it as a biomass crop is new.
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
NCAT announces that Arkansas among 3 states chosen to launch National Energy Corps program
Arkansas Chosen as One of 3 States to Launch National Energy Corps Program
The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service to launch the National Energy Corps AmeriCorps program.
By forming collaborations with local non-profit organizations, community action agencies, local governments and energy service organizations, the National Energy Corps initiative will foster community sustainability by addressing the core challenges of clean energy:
* Hands-on Energy Assistance
* Energy Education and Outreach
* Community Energy Planning and Organizing
* Green Jobs Training and Skills Development
* Energy Education and Outreach
* Community Energy Planning and Organizing
* Green Jobs Training and Skills Development
The National Energy Corps program is an AmeriCorps initiative of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) in cooperation with The Corporation for National and Community Service that was created to address unmet community energy needs by promoting sustainable energy consumption and
education, fostering community sustainability and helping to mitigate the effects of global climate change.
The National Energy Corps initiative builds on the success of the Montana Energy Corps pilot, a program funded by the Montana Governor’s Office of Community Service. Since October of 2009, Energy Corps members in Montana have been busy assisting with weatherization services for low-incomes areas,
developing clean energy awareness campaigns for communities and performing community building energy audits on reservations.
“We see a need for sustainable energy services across the country,” says Energy Corps Program Director Holly Hill. “The Energy Corps program has been a great success in Montana and we hope we can replicate that success on a larger scale.”
As a product of the successful Montana Energy Corps program, the National Energy Corps initiative will launch this fall in three additional states, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Arkansas. The Arkansas Energy Corps program will be managed by the NCAT Southeast Regional Office, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
NCAT Southeast Regional Office Director Margo Hale says, “The Southeast Regional office is thrilled to be one of three states to launch the National Energy Corps initiative. This is a great opportunity for our region and our state.”
Arkansas will have approximately 15 National Energy Corps positions available, beginning in September 2010. Energy Corps members will serve an 11 month term of service and receive the same benefits as an AmeriCorps member, which include a monthly living stipend, an education award, health insurance
and a experience of a lifetime providing direct services to their community. National Energy Corps members will be placed with host organizations in communities throughout the state of Arkansas to implement solutions for sustainable energy.
NCAT is currently accepting applications from non-profit organizations interested in hosting an Energy Corps member. Host organizations will be required to provide a detailed description of how an Energy Corps member working for their program will facilitate clean energy-related services.
Applications for host organizations must be submitted by the close of business by July 20, 2010. More detailed information regarding this partnership opportunity is available by reviewing the full application instructions attached or by contacting Holly Hill at 406-494-8652/hollyh@ncat.org or Melissa Terry at 479.575.1382/melissat@ncat.org.
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The National Center for Appropriate Technology is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976. NCAT’s innovative and diverse projects in the fields of
sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture and rural community development are supported by foundations, government/private sector grants and contracts, as well as through individual contributions and memberships.
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AR Energy Corps Coordinator
National Center for Appropriate Technology
SE Field Office
207 W. Center
Fayetteville, AR 72701
www.ncat.org
479.575.1385
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