Project Number: 5445-21310-001-05
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Nov 01, 2005
End Date: Oct 31, 2010

Objective:
The objectives of this project are to establish 18 research/demonstration plots at six locations in North Dakota and to collect baseline soil quality data. These plots will be used in a ten year project to obtain the following information for producers in North Dakota and the northern Great Plains: 1. the most appropriate herbaceous bioenergy crop, 2. the impact of annual and bi-annual harvests on biomass yield and maintenance of stands, 3. the economics of producing a dedicated bioenergy crop, 4. the soil carbon storage potential, and 5. the impact of alfalfa on stand yield and maintenance (i.e. nitrogen fertilization), and chemical composition.

Approach:
Soil samples will be collected using a deep core probe and divided into seven depths (0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-60, 60-90, and 90-120 cm). These samples will be processed for gravimetric water content and soil bulk density prior to air-drying for soil quality parameters or subsampling for two major pools of glomalin (citrate-extractable and recalcitrant) and water-stable aggregation (WSA). Glomalin and WSA will be evaluated for the top three surface depths, while the other soil quality parameters will be measured on all seven depths. Soil quality measurements include electrical conductivity, soil pH, total carbon and nitrogen, soil inorganic carbon, particulate organic matter, and extractable nitrate and phosphorus. Soils data from the various treatments will be compared within and across location using PROC MIXED in SAS (SAS Institute, 1990). Multivariate analyses will be used to identify inherent and management-related factors contributing to enhanced soil quality under bioenergy crops.