Triticale Provides Biomass, Cover - Ethanol Producer Magazine

Triticale Provides Biomass, Cover - Ethanol Producer Magazine

Triticale Provides Biomass, Cover Ethanol Producer Magazine, ND - Jan 11, 2008 Iowa State University researchers are experimenting with triticale (pronounced tri-te-CAY-ley) and other crops to increase the total amount of biomass ...

href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/6-0&fd=R&url=http://ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp%3Farticle_id%3D3613&cid=0&ei=nY6KR-SpHJOkoAPJ8aG5Ag">Triticale Provides Biomass, Cover - Ethanol Producer Magazine
crops to increase the total amount of biomass harvested in a year while addressing environmental concerns such as nitrates leaching into watersheds from heavily fertilized corn crops. biomass when it is still green in early June, followed by a summer crop—either a short-season corn variety or a sorghum-Sudan grass hybrid—seeded directly into the triticale stubble. crop to prevent winter soil erosion and as a sponge to soak up nitrates. crop that requires little or no additional fertilizer and, because it grows so vigorously in the spring, little or no herbicides. biomass crop, triticale has reached its maximum vegetative growth by early June and can be harvested before it sets kernels, Liebman explains. biomass yield for triticale should be between three and four tons of dry material per acre, Liebman says. crop will require more fertilizer than is usually applied following a soybean crop, he adds. crops in the research trials produced grain yields between 125 and 175 bushels per acre, which is less than corn planted in April. biomass, Liebman calculates that corn yields 500 to 600 gallons of ethanol per acre. biomass from a winter triticale crop will boost the ethanol yield per acre between 725 and 900 gallons. biomass crop may act as a preprocessing step for an enzymatic fermentation ethanol process. produce as much dry matter per acre as corn stover or sorghum-Sudan grass, the ability to fix its own nitrogen may make it an attractive crop when compared with corn and its high-fertilizer requirements.