Location: Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-66000-002-010-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2026
End Date: Aug 15, 2028
Objective:
1. Assess on-farm poultry bedding production and associated improvements in P, N, and C cycling, comparing Miscanthus x giganteus (sterile Miscanthus) crop production with import of wood-derived bedding products.
2. Conduct and oversee experiments to create data streams for modeling efforts to support a possible interim conservation practice standard for legacy nutrient drawdown.
3. Participate in communication activities to inform farmers and producer along with NRCS Plant Material Centers, National Discipline Leaders, and specialists about progress and potential issues.
Approach:
1. Assess the escape potential of M. giganteus (sterile triploid) to surrounding ecosystem, size of natural buffer protecting blue line streams and ditches, removal of established M. giganteus fields on the Delmarva and in North Carolina.
2. Examine on-farm nutrient fate in soil and plant material where M. giganteus is cultivated for use as litter in poultry houses.
3. Examine P redistribution as a function of crop (shallow rooted annual versus deep-rooted, perennial).
4. Carry out APLE modelling of P cycle impacts from on-farm bedding production in fields and border plantings.
5. Characterize P removal associated with composting and transport of finished M. giganteus litter. Provide guidance to improve compost finishing techniques to produce a saleable product.
6. Conduct life cycle assessment of farm nutrient and carbon cycling (P, N, C) in M. giganteus use with comparison to current methods (e.g., wood chip poultry house bedding) at multiple scales.
7. Present results at meetings with farmers, NRCS, and other scientists.