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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #213249
Title: Cellulosic ethanol production with a living mulch: Effect on nitrate leaching

Author
item Ochsner, Tyson
item BERKEVICH, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item ALBRECHT, KENNETH - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2007
Publication Date: 11/3/2007
Citation: Ochsner, T.E., Berkevich, R., Albrecht, K. 2007. Cellulosic ethanol production with a living mulch: Effect on nitrate leaching. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. 2007 CD ROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol from corn stover may become a reality soon. Complete stover harvest may maximize short term economic gain but could cause serious losses of soil organic matter and increases in soil erosion. Growing corn in a kura clover living mulch may permit complete stover harvest with minimal erosion hazard while providing extra organic inputs to maintain soil organic matter. We hypothesize that the living mulch may also reduce nitrate leaching, a serious concern associated with conventional corn production. Two possible causes for the hypothetical reduction are 1) reduced annual drainage beneath the root zone due to water use by the living mulch outside of the short corn growing season and 2) lower N rates required due to N fixation by the kura clover. We will present two growing seasons of data from a field experiment testing our hypothesis and examining the relative importance of these two causes.