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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #299874
Title: Modeled impacts of cover crops and vegetative barriers on corn stover availability and soil quality

Author
item BONNER, IAN - Idaho National Laboratory
item MUTH, DAVID - Praxik Llc
item KOCH, JOSHUA - Praxik Llc
item Karlen, Douglas

Submitted to: BioEnergy Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2014
Publication Date: 4/1/2014
Citation: Bonner, I.J., Muth, D.J., Koch, J.B., Karlen, D.L. 2014. Modeled impacts of cover crops and vegetative barriers on corn stover availability and soil quality. BioEnergy Research. 7:576-589.

Interpretive Summary: The anticipated launch of three full-scale lignocellulosic bioenergy conversion facilities in 2014 is sending a strong market signal that sustainable feedstock supplies must increase dramatically to meet the emerging global needs. The Landscape Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) computer simulation package was used to project sustainable corn stover feedstock supplies with current management practices, with increased adoption of reduced and/or no-tillage practices, with the addition of cover crops, and with single vegetative buffers placed discretely to reduce slope length. Our results show that 194 million Megagrams (Mg) of sustainable corn stover are annually available without negatively impacting soil resources when no-till, cover crop, and vegetative conservation barrier pracatices are incorporated into the landscape. This information will be useful to scientists, conservationists, farmers and industries planning to use corn stover for producing bioenergy or other bio-products.

Technical Abstract: Environmentally benign, economically viable, and socially acceptable agronomic strategies are needed to launch a sustainable cellulose-based biofuel industry. Our objective is to demonstrate a landscape planning process that can ensure adequate supplies of lignocellulosic feedstock while protecting and improving soil quality. The Landscape Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) is used to develop land use strategies that are then scaled up for five U.S. Corn Belt states (Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota) to illustrate the impact that could be achieved. Our results show that 194 million Mg of sustainable corn stover (Zea mays L.) are annually available without negatively impacting soil resources when no-till, cover crop, and vegetative conservation barrier practices are incorporated into the landscape. A second, more rigorous conservation target was set in order to enhance soil quality while sustainably harvesting stover. By requiring erosion to be < ½ T and SCI (Soil Conditioning Index) and SCI-OM (Organic Matter) sub-factor to be > 0, the annual sustainable quantity of harvestable stover drops to 148 million Mg. Investigation of removal rates by state and soil resource shows that soil capability class and soil slope generally determine the effectiveness of added conservation practices and the resulting sustainable harvest rate. We conclude that sustainable removal of biomass must be based on subfield scale decisions to ensure soil resources are conserved or enhanced, while providing sufficient biomass feedstock to support economically viable growth of bioenergy enterprises.