IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v176y2016icp234-242.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of harvest regime, irrigation, and salinity on stem lignocellulose concentrations in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

Author

Listed:
  • Warnke, Adam H.
  • Ruhland, Christopher T.

Abstract

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a potential candidate for cellulosic ethanol production due to its high biomass, perennial-habit, relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and other co-products. We examined the effects of harvest regime, irrigation, and salinity on stem lignocellulose concentrations in alfalfa during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons in Southern Minnesota. Stem cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin concentrations, and theoretical ethanol yields were examined in eight alfalfa cultivars with full-bud and 50%-flower harvest regimes, irrigation, and salinity as applied treatments. Plants received weekly applications of (1) 1.27cm of well water (“fresh water;” 0.75dSm−1), (2) 1.27cm of saline water (NaCl; “brackish water”; 5.0dSm−1) or (3) ambient precipitation (“rainfed”). Holocellulose concentrations reached the highest values during the full bud (2010) and 50% flower (2011) harvest regimes with concentrations averaging 45%. Theoretical ethanol yields were generally higher for the 50%-flower harvest regime, suggesting the longer growth period increased holocellulose concentrations while not being hindered by more lignin in older stems. Alfalfa growing under brackish-water treatments had 1.3–6.1% more holocellulose than those receiving irrigation or ambient precipitation over two growing seasons. Lignin concentrations across all treatments were almost 23% lower during the second growing season. Interestingly, plants growing under brackish-water treatments had higher holocellulose to lignin ratios and higher theoretical ethanol yields during both field seasons suggesting that moderate levels of salt may stimulate holocellulose concentrations.

Suggested Citation

  • Warnke, Adam H. & Ruhland, Christopher T., 2016. "The effects of harvest regime, irrigation, and salinity on stem lignocellulose concentrations in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 234-242.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:176:y:2016:i:c:p:234-242
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2016.06.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377416302268
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2016.06.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walsh, Marie E. & Torre Ugarte, Daniel de la & English, Burton C. & Jensen, Kimberly L. & Hellwinckel, Chad M. & Menard, R. Jamey & Nelson, Richard G., 2007. "Agricultural Impacts of Biofuels Production," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 1-8, August.
    2. Montazar, A. & Sadeghi, M., 2008. "Effects of applied water and sprinkler irrigation uniformity on alfalfa growth and hay yield," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1279-1287, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Yadong & Liu, Chun & Cui, Pengfei & Su, Derong, 2021. "Effects of partial root-zone drying on alfalfa growth, yield and quality under subsurface drip irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Langholtz, Matthew & Graham, Robin & Eaton, Laurence & Perlack, Robert & Hellwinkel, Chad & De La Torre Ugarte, Daniel G., 2012. "Price projections of feedstocks for biofuels and biopower in the U.S," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 484-493.
    2. Thompson, Wyatt & Meyer, Seth D. & Westhoff, Patrick C., 2010. "Us Biofuel And Climate Policies Duel Over Cellulosic Biomass," 2010: Climate Change in World Agriculture: Mitigation, Adaptation, Trade and Food Security, June 2010, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany 91404, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    3. Wang, Qi & Zhang, Dengkui & Zhou, Xujiao & Mak-Mensah, Erastus & Zhao, Xiaole & Zhao, Wucheng & Wang, Xiaoyun & Stellmach, Dan & Liu, Qinglin & Li, Xiaoling & Li, Guang & Wang, Heling & Zhang, Kai, 2022. "Optimum planting configuration for alfalfa production with ridge-furrow rainwater harvesting in a semiarid region of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    4. Yan Li & Derong Su, 2017. "Alfalfa Water Use and Yield under Different Sprinkler Irrigation Regimes in North Arid Regions of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Xiao, Yu & Zhang, Jing & Jia, Ting Ting & Pang, Xiao Pan & Guo, Zheng Gang, 2015. "Effects of alternate furrow irrigation on the biomass and quality of alfalfa (Medicago sativa)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 147-154.
    6. Michał Napierała & Mariusz Sojka & Joanna Jaskuła, 2023. "Impact of Water Meadow Restoration on Forage Hay Production in Different Hydro-Meteorological Conditions: A Case Study of Racot, Central Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-27, February.
    7. Okwo, Adaora & Thomas, Valerie M., 2014. "Biomass feedstock contracts: Role of land quality and yield variability in near term feasibility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 67-80.
    8. Sheikhesmaeili, Omid & Montero, Jesús & Laserna, Santiago, 2016. "Analysis of water application with semi-portable big size sprinkler irrigation systems in semi-arid areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 275-284.
    9. Robles, O. & Playán, E. & Cavero, J. & Zapata, N., 2017. "Assessing low-pressure solid-set sprinkler irrigation in maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 37-49.
    10. Zapata, N. & Robles, O. & Playán, E. & Paniagua, P. & Romano, C. & Salvador, R. & Montoya, F., 2018. "Low-pressure sprinkler irrigation in maize: Differences in water distribution above and below the crop canopy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 353-365.
    11. Cavero, Jose & Faci, Jose M. & Medina, Eva T. & Martínez-Cob, Antonio, 2017. "Alfalfa forage production under solid-set sprinkler irrigation in a semiarid climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 184-192.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:176:y:2016:i:c:p:234-242. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.