Pioneer Explores Alfalfa’s Role in Cellulosic Ethanol
The lowly alfalfa crop could play a role in the future of cellulosic ethanol.
Alfalfa is the nation’s most popular legume and actually our third most valuable crop, but it is often taken for granted and somewhat under valued. However, the many benefits of the crop could make it a potential frontrunner in the cellulosic ethanol race, especially if new varieties can be developed with reduced lignin content, which is the focus of a Pioneer Hi-Bred biotech research project.
Pioneer Director of Alfalfa Research Dave Miller says they believe cellulosic ethanol will need multiple feedstocks and alfalfa is a good fit for a number of reasons. “It’s great for crop rotation, its environmental benefits in terms of lack of soil erosion because it’s deep rooted and a perennial are well known, and it fixes nitrogen.”
In addition, Miller says preliminary work shows alfalfa is competitive with other feedstocks for its ability to convert to cellulosic ethanol and that a corn/alfalfa rotation creates a very favorable carbon footprint for ethanol production.
Producing varieties with less lignin would be helpful in making alfalfa even more competitive as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock. In addition, the reduced lignin alfalfa also has benefits with its more traditional use as livestock feed. “When animals are fed lower lignin forage, they perform better,” said Miller. “Both systems are digestions, one is an enzyme-acid digestion to go into a fermentation vat, the other is a digestion to make milk or meat.”
Listen to or download an interview with Dave Miller here:
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Eric
Alfalfa is a perennial, so how would that help on a rotating-crop basis? I don’t know much about farming. Would the rotation mentioned in the article [corn-alfalfa] require a multi-year period to be practical, that is take advantage of perennial growth, or could the rotation be done annually?
Thumper
Typically, if the ground is very fertile you could rotate crops every other year. The problem is, land is typically overfarmed requiring fertilizers to be added annually. For this reason, you would want to rotate the crops with corn one year then alfalfa for two years then back to corn. If you have the land available you could do a three crop rotation. You would need to pair up plants that return to the soil what the other crop removes. If you do not then you will need to add fertilizer to the soil.
David Michael
I am doing a Life Cycle Assessment of several animal production systems, some of which include alfalfa in their diet. I am looking for the emissions and resource use of alfalfa production for fibre in a ration, but cannot find any data for alfalfa. Anyone have any ideas?
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