1. Establishment costs and productivity ofEstablishment costs and productivity of
grass-based biofuels in SW Wisconsingrass-based biofuels in SW Wisconsin
•Steve Bertjens + Mike Lieurance: SWBRCD
•Mark Renz, Randy Jackson, Jessica Miesel:
UW-Madison Agronomy
•Matt Ruark:UW-Madison Soil Science
2. Resources on switchgrassResources on switchgrass
MANY OTHER SOURCES:
•12 factsheets/guides available
•A new resource: eXtension:
http://www.extension.org/pages/Sw
www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/pubs/switchgrass.pdf
3. Switchgrass ResearchSwitchgrass Research
ObjectivesObjectives
1. Measure if weed management can improve
establishment and productivity of switchgrass
2. Estimate the costs associated with establishment
3. Determine optimum N recommendations
4. Estimate the environmental costs and benefits
switchgrass
– Soil erosion, Greenhouse gas emission, Carbon
sequestration
4. •6 sites, 10 A/site
•Marginal cropland
•Annual cropping
systems
•Glyphosate
resistant-crops
•Treatment area = 2 A
Site DetailsSite Details
5. Comparison of farmsComparison of farms
Farm Tillage Previous
crop
Planted Comments
Scott Light disk Soybeans 5/16 Giant ragweed, Steep
slopes (15-25%)
F&R No-till Corn 5/15-16 Into unchopped stalks
Dan _Sch No-till Ryegrass 5/28 Harvested and
sprayed rye before
planting
Crapp Fall chisel/
spring
finished
Corn 5/15-16 Fall panicum, steep
slopes (9-18%)
Wolf No-till Corn 5/14 high crop residue
T_Sch No-till Soybeans 5/22 Steep slopes (9-11%)
6. Establishment treatmentsEstablishment treatments
# Crop Seed rate
(lbs/A)
Pre Post2
1 Switchgrass1 8 Glyphosate 1 lbs ae/A -
2 Switchgrass1 8 Glyphosate 1 lbs ae/A 2,4-D
3 Switchgrass+
oats1
8 +
1 bu/A
Glyphosate 1 lbs ae/A -
4 Switchgrass1
8 Journey 10.7 fl oz/A -
5 DIVERSE 9 grass
1.4 forbs
Journey 10.7 fl oz/A -
1
Cave in the rock variety
2
Treated 7/22/08
If weed cover created canopy over
switchgrass, plots mowed in Aug
7. Cover of switchgrass inCover of switchgrass in
establishment yearestablishment year
B
A
AB
B
A
AB
P<0.05
10. Year 1 Cost of establishmentYear 1 Cost of establishment
USDA-NAAS Custom rate guide 2007
TRT Planting Weeds Other Total
Glyphosate $87 $27 $20 $134
Glyphosate +
2,4-D
$89 $36 $15 $140
Glyphosate +oats $94 $26 $18 $138
Journey $89 $27 $15 $131
Diverse/ Journey $150 $18 $18 $192
MSU Publication $66 $33 $73 $171
11. 11stst
year summary GHGyear summary GHG
• All sites were minor sources
for Nitrous oxide (N2O)
– No treatment differences
• All sites minor sinks for
Methane (CH4)
– No treatment differences
• All sites sources for Carbon
dioxide (CO2)
– No treatment differences
12. Year two managementYear two management
ESTABLISHMENT PLOTS NOT FERTILIZED
– N = Typical recommendations 0-100 lbs N/A
• In season: 20 lb N/acre/yr for each ton
• After killing frost: 12 to 14 lb N acre/yr for each ton
– P = If soil tests indicate low in P (<25 ppm)
• add 10-40 lbs P2O5/Acre
15. PercentCover(%)
0
10
20
30
40
50 September 2009
Big Bluestem
Indian Grass
Little Bluestem
Sideoats Grama
Switchgrass
Illinois Bundleflower
Milk Vetch
Partridge Pea
Yellow Coneflower
Cover ofCover of
diverse plotsdiverse plots
in 2in 2ndnd
yearyear
16. P<0.05
Yield in 2nd yearYield in 2nd year
Harvested from small plotsHarvested from small plots
DIVERSE
IMAZ+GLY
GLY
+ 2,4-D
GLY GLY
+ OATS
IMAZ+GLY
Yield in 2009
DryMassYield(g/m
2
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
aab
bc abc
c
DryMassYield(lb/ac)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
24. Switchgrass Yields 2009 - Grant County, WI
Nitrogen rate (lb/ac)
0 50 100 150 200
Yield(ton/ac)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
Glyphosate
Glyphosate w/ oats
Diverse grass mixture
R
2
=0.96
R
2
=0.95
Nitrogen responseNitrogen response
25. Comparison of GHG fluxes
FOE
Switchgrass
(est. 2008)
GLBRC
Switchgrass
(est. 2008)
GLBRC
Continuous
Corn
GLBRC Corn
(grain rotation)
CO2 63.19 (1.85) 46.24 (8.24) 42.66 (7.50) 46.43 (5.63)
CH4 -0.010 (0.001) -0.006 (0.004) -0.008 (0.005) -0.005 (0.004)
N2O 0.002 (0.001) 0.010 (0.016) 0.091 (0.079) 0.242 (0.164)
C and N fluxes are given in mg. m-2
.hr-1
23 CO2 = 1 CH4
296 CO = 1 N O
26. Year 2 Cost of establishmentYear 2 Cost of establishment
Fertility =0-$55/A
Management =0-$25/A
Harvest = $19/A
Assuming N = $0.40/lbsAssuming N = $0.40/lbs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 25 50 75 100
Lbs N added
Cost/A($/A)
untreated
burn
gly
journey
27. Comparison of field-scale vs smallComparison of field-scale vs small
plot yield in 2plot yield in 2ndnd
yearyear
* Denotes significance P<0.05
4.0 T/A
2.0 T/A
1.0 T/A
28. • Costs
– Establishment: $130-140/A
– Future years: $19-$100/A (Driven by N)
• Successful establishment (% of fields):
• Journey 100%
• Glyphosate+2,4-D 50%
• Glyphosate + Oats 40%
• Glyphosate 17%
• Productivity in Year 2 without N (1-4
tons/A)
– gly+2,4-D and Journey 3.5 tons/A (2-4)
– Other treatments 2 tons/A (1-3)
2 year summary2 year summary
29. 2 year summary continued2 year summary continued
• NITROGEN RESPONSE
– N increases yield
• Reduced returns when >100 lbs N/A observed
• Next year should have more of a N response
• ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
– Greenhouse gases:
• All sites were minor sources of nitrous oxide (N2O)
• All sites were minor sinks for methane (CH4)
• All sites were sources for carbon dioxide (CO2)
– Carbon Sequestration:
• Still processing, but found no differences in soil organic matter
between treatments
– Soil Erosion:
• determining differences with RUSL2
Madison to Platteville: 72 miles
Madison to Lancaster: 82 miles
The following two figures show mean (s.e.) percent cover by switchgrass in
Year 1 establishment treatments, estimated in 2009. (These data are from three farms: D. Schaefer, T. Schaerfer, and F&R.)
For JUNE: There was no difference in switchgrass % cover, among 1st-year establishment treatments (p=0.93).
These data are mean (s.e.) of the percent cover by each of the planted species in the diverse mixture, averaged across N=3 farms. Shown are data from the Year 1 Diverse establishment treatment, in the Year 2 “control” plots, from June and from September 2009.
This figure shows means (s.e.) of 2009 quadrat-based biomass yield in Year 1 Establishment treatments (untreated in 2009); means are of N=5-6 farms. Data were log-transformed prior to ANOVA; model p=0.0014; model F=6.40.
Biomass was harvested from 3 replicate 0.5m2 quadrats in each switchgrass plot, and from 3 replicate 1.0m2 quadrats in each diverse plot.
CH4 flux, averaged across the 4 treatments (error bars = s.e. of N=4 treatments)
N2O flux, averaged across the 4 treatments (error bars = s.e. of N=4 treatments)
