Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover

Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover Biomass Production Ken Moore, Andrew Lenssen, & Cynthia Bartel Department of Agronomy Iowa State University

Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover Biomass Production Team Members: § § § Ken Moore, Professor, ISU Agronomy Kendall Lamkey, Professor, ISU Agronomy Andrew Lenssen, Professor, ISU Agronomy David Laird, Professor, ISU Agronomy Roger Hintz, Assistant Scientist, ISU Agronomy Cynthia Bartel, Graduate Endowment Fellow, ISU Agronomy Collaborators: § Charlie Brummer, Noble Foundation § Ty Barten, Monsanto Breeding Technology

Iowa produces record amount of ethanol in 2014 Iowa, the largest ethanol producing state, accounted for roughly 27 percent of country's production this year. The increase in production in 2014 was the first noticeable one in years after output hovered at about 3. 7 billion annually since 2011, according to Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. For the first time, a small amount of the ethanol production came from cellulosic feedstocks such as corn stover and corn kernel fiber. Despite falling short of cellulosic production goals in recent years, producers of the nascent fuel are starting to show signs of delivering. In 2014, Poet-DSM opened its $275 million facility in Emmetsburg. Du. Pont plans to open its $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada next year. Iowa has 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing more than 3. 8 billion gallons annually, including 22 million gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity and one cellulosic ethanol facility currently under construction. In addition, Iowa has 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce nearly 315 million gallons annually. Christopher Doering, Des Moines Register, December 29, 2014.

Curtis, Brian. 2008. U. S. Ethanol Industry: The Next Inflection Point. U. S. Department of Energy, Biomass Program. http: //www 1. eere. energy. gov/biomass/pdfs/2007 ethanolreview. pdf.

Annual Biomass Supply High Yield Assumptions - $60/ton U. S. Department of Energy. 2011. U. S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. R. D. Perlack and B. J. Stokes (Leads), ORNL/TM-2011/224.

Annual Agricultural Residual Biomass Million Dry Tons - 2030 U. S. Department of Energy. 2011. U. S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. R. D. Perlack and B. J. Stokes (Leads), ORNL/TM-2011/224.

Biomass Supply by Category Million Dry Tons - 2030 U. S. Department of Energy. 2011. U. S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. R. D. Perlack and B. J. Stokes (Leads), ORNL/TM-2011/224.

Corn Stover n Pluses q q n Abundant Inexpensive Genetics Infrastructure Challenges q q q Environmental issues Harvest technology Storage Transportation Utilization

Perennial Cover Crops Benefits: § Sustainable residue removal § Reduction in soil erosion § Sequester mineralized N; reduction in nitrate leaching § Weed control § Enhanced organic matter § Improved soil quality

Objective – Wiggans et al. (2012) Develop management systems that minimize competition between corn and the groundcover Design § Split plot § 4 Reps Treatments § Groundcover (Main) • • Bluegrass Creeping red fescue White clover and red fescue § Management (Sub) • • Control Glyphosate (pre and post) Paraquat (pre) and glyphosate (post) Strip tillage (fall) with glyphosate (post) • Strip tillage with paraquat (pre) and glyphosate (post)

Grain Yield (Wiggins et al. , 2012) 14 12 Grain Yield (Mg ha-1) 10 2008 2009 2010 2011 8 6 4 2 0 Control Fescue No Till Fescue Strip Till Bluegrass No Till Bluegrass Strip Till Mixed No Till Mixed Strip Till Three years of study & additional year with limiting moisture

Perennial Cover Crops Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover Biomass Production Objectives: n n n n Can previous results be replicated, and on a commercial scale? How do various corn hybrids (non-autotoxic, autotoxic population insensitive, and autotoxic population sensitive) fare in a PGC system? How do Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue groundcovers compare? How do zone-till groundcover systems compare with conventional systems, with and without residue removal? Can groundcover be established under a previous corn or soybean crop? Does residue removal reduce or eliminate the yield drag? How does a perennial bluegrass cover crop managed with zonetillage influence distribution and timing of available nitrogen?

Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover Biomass Production Design § RCBD § 3 Reps Spraying Glyphosate Boone, IA 6. 25. 14 Treatments (12) § Corn hybrid § Management • Autotoxic • Control (conventional/bare soil) • Population insensitive • W/ and w/out residue removal • Population sensitive • Strip tillage (fall) • Non-autotoxic • Paraquat (spring) § Groundcover • Glyphosate (spring) • Kentucky Bluegrass • Creeping red fescue

Corn Treatments Treatment Groundcover Tillage Method Hybrid Residue Management 1 None Conventional Population sensitive Removed 2 None Conventional Population sensitive Not Removed 3 None Conventional Removed 4 None Conventional 5 None Conventional Population insensitive Nonautotoxic 6 None Conventional Nonautotoxic Not Removed 7 Bluegrass Zone tillage Population sensitive Removed 8 Bluegrass Zone tillage Removed 9 Bluegrass Zone tillage Population insensitive Nonautotoxic 10 Tall fescue Zone tillage Population sensitive Removed 11 Tall fescue Zone tillage Removed 12 Tall fescue Zone tillage Population insensitive Nonautotoxic Not removed Removed Managing Perennial Cover Crops for Sustainable Corn Stover Biomass Production

Data Collection Sorenson Farm, 2014 (Boone, IA) • • Stand density (V 2) Phenology (weekly) Leaf Area Index (LAI) Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) Yield for corn Yield & yield components for soybean NIR seed analysis Corn stover - sequential fiber analysis (ADF, NDF, cellulose, lignin, ash), carbon & nitrogen • Soybean biomass - carbon & nitrogen • % perennial cover (grid sampling technique) • Soil samples (baseline, inc. C & N, p. H, Mehlich-3, & 2 M KCl extractable NH 4 and NO 3)

Results Sorenson Farm, 2014 (Boone, IA) SE=10. 2753 Conv. Pop. Sens. Conv. Pop. Ins. Conv. KBG, Non- Pop. auto. Sens. Ins. Treatment KBG, Fes. , Non- Pop. auto. Sens. Fes. , Pop. Ins. Fes. , Nonauto.

Results Sorenson Farm, 2014 (Boone, IA) SE=. 01394 Conv. Pop. Sens. Conv. Pop. Ins. Conv. KBG, Non- Pop. auto. Sens. Ins. Treatment KBG, Fes. , Non- Pop. auto. Sens. Fes. , Pop. Ins. Fes. , Nonauto.

Contact Information Ken Moore Professor Department of Agronomy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 -1010 515 -294 -5482 kjmoore@iastate. edu David Laird Professor Department of Agronomy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 -1010 (515) 294 -1581 dalaird@iastate. edu Andy Lenssen Professor Department of Agronomy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 -1010 515 -294 -1060 alenssen@iastate. edu Cynthia Bartel Graduate Endowment Fellow Department of Agronomy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 -1010 703 -244 -9691 cabartel@iastate. edu