Integration of Commodity and Bioenergy Crops to Boost Conservation and Environmental Sustainability

Herbert Ssegane and M. Cristina Negri

69th SWCS International Annual ConferenceMaking Waves in ConservationJuly 27-30, 2014 Lombard, IL

hssegane@anl.gov, negri@anl.gov 630-252-7051Work funded by the Bioenergy Technologies Office, US DOE-EERE

Image: Dr. Jonathan Male, Director Bioenergy Technologies Office of EERE, DOE

Pathways to sustainable expansion of biomass production

Iastate.edu

Bioenergycrops.com

biomassmagazine.com Biochar.org

aquanetviet.org

Use of marginal lands Corn stoverForest residues and

wood chips

Cover crops Algae

Integration of energy crops into current agricultural production system

Site characterization: Monitoring vs. modeling

OBJECTIVE CRITERIAATTRIBUTE AND

DATA

Soil analysis

Terrain analysis

Hydrogeological analysis

Nutrient leaching

Intra-field crop variability

Site-specific intra-field

assessment for marginal lands

Soil map from soil cores

Longest flow pathso DEM from elevation

point cloud

MODFLOW conceptual modelo Water table elevation

Soil water analyzed for NO3, TOC, TP, and N2O

o Rhizon sampling

Yield map

Watershed scale

Field scale

Study location

Monitoring for site characterization – soil water

Soils: Monitoring vs. SSURGO data

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Contours!. Soil core locations

Field boundaryComfrey loam, 0 - 2 % slopes, frequently floodedSymerton silt loam, 2 - 5 % slopesSymerton silt loam, 5 - 10 % slopes, eroded

±

0 50 10025 Meters

b)a)

Topography and corn yield data

MODFLOW results: Dominant shallow groundwater flow

b)a)

Subsurface NO3-NO2-N concentrations [mg/L]: 2011

a) b) c)

NO3-NO2-N concentrations [mg/L] at 1.2 m depth

Design of a contour strip buffer

DNDC scenario modeling

Scenarioa Yield Leached NO3 N2O flux

Mg ha-1 yr-1 kgN ha-1 yr-1 kgN ha-1 yr-1

Corn 10.4 ± 1.7 31.9 ± 4.4 2.2 ± 0.3

Corn/switchgrass 8.7 ± 1.0 11.6 ± 1.6 2.0 ± 0.2

Corn/willow 9.7 ± 0.6 12.5 ± 1.6 1.9 ± 0.2

% reductionb --- 61.0 ± 6.2 5.5 ± 3.1 --- 59.3 ± 4.0 10.8 ± 2.6

Experimental plots for monitoring biomass and

nutrient recovery

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Willow Re-planting – May 14, 2013

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Flux Chamber Analysis

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Collaborators DOE-BETO office Terry Bachtold –Livingston County SWCD Eric McTaggart, USDA-NRCS Gayathri Gopalakrishnan Paul Benda CTIC The Indian Creek Watershed Project Leadership and Sponsors

Comments and Questions?

Thank you