Title:
Double - and Relay - Cropping Oilseed and Biomass Crops for Sustainable Energy Production
Author(s):
Gesch, R., Berti, M., Johnson, B., Aponte, A., Ji, Y., Seames, W., Archer, D.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Double-and relay-cropping offers a means to produce a biofuel and food or forage crop in a single season on the same land without sacrificing food security, while potentially boosting profits. Field studies were conducted between 2009 and 2012 in Morris, Minnesota (MN) and Prosper and Carrington, North Dakota (ND) to evaluate double-cropping and relay-cropping (inter-seeding) of soybean (Glycine max L.), maize (Zea mays L.), and forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) following winter camelina (Camelina sativa L.) as a dedicated oilseed biofuel feedstock. Results showed that winter camelina consistently yielded about 1100 to 1300 kg ha-1 of seed in MN and as high as >1700 kg ha-1 in ND. Relayed soybean and forage sorghum inter-seeded between camelina rows prior to bolting generally outperformed sequential double-crop treatments with soybean seed yields as high as >2700 kg ha-1 and sorghum dry biomass yields as high as 16 Mg ha-1 . Combined seed oil yields of double-and relay-cropped camelina and soybean were greater than either species grown in mono-culture yielding as high as about 1200 L ha-1 . Double-and relay-cropping sorghum and soybean with winter camelina to produce bioenergy and food/feed in a single season is a viable system for the northern U.S.
Keywords:
oilseeds, biomass crops, double-cropping, relay-cropping, camelina, forage sorghum
Topic:
Biomass resources
Subtopic:
Energy crops and energy grasses
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
1BV.3.31
Pages:
372 - 377
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-1BV.3.31
Price:
FREE
