Biomass accumulation of di€erent grass species can be quanti®ed by leaf area index (LAI) development, the Beer±Lambert light interception function, and a species-speci®c radiation-use eciency (RUE). The object of this ®eld study was to compare RUE values and leaf CO2 exchange rates (CER) for four C4 grasses. Biomass, LAI, and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) intercepted we...

Polyploidy poses challenges for phylogenetic reconstruction because of the need to identify and distinguish between homoeologous loci. This can be addressed by use of low copy nuclear markers. Panicum s.s. is a genus of about 100 species in the grass tribe Paniceae, subfamily Panicoideae, and is divided into five sections. Many of the species are known to be polyploids. The most well-known of t...

Although yield trials for switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a potentially high value biofuel feedstock crop, are currently underway throughout North America, the genetic tools for crop improvement in this species are still in the early stages of development. Identification of high-density molecular markers, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), that are amenable to high-throughput ge...

BACKGROUND Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is being developed as a bioenergy crop for many temperate regions of the world. One way to increase biomass yields is to move southern adapted lowland cultivars to more northern latitudes. However, many southerly adapted switchgrass germplasm can suffer significant winter kill in northerly climes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Here, we have applied next-ge...

INTRODUCTION The development of viable bio-based energy systems offers many potential benefits relative to energy availability, national security, a cleaner environment, and associated economic rewards (DOE 2000). Largescale bioenergy use will require the deployment of environmentally acceptable energy crops and cropping systems for producing large quantities of low-cost, high-quality biomass f...

The rumen microbial ecosystem is known for its biomass-degrading and methane-producing phenotype. Fermentation of recalcitrant plant material, comprised of a multitude of interwoven fibers, necessitates the synergistic activity of diverse microbial taxonomic groups that inhabit the anaerobic rumen ecosystem. Although interspecies hydrogen (H2) transfer, a process during which bacterially genera...

Switchgrass, both raw and torrefied, was tested for its ability to sorb water or oil. The cyclic performance also examined, utilizing centrifugal extraction as the regeneration method. Both oil sorption capacity increase with decreasing size of switchgrass particles. Results indicate that 3 mm can at a about 6 times mass mass, which makes it suitable biodegradable sorbent. Torrefaction 220 °C 3...

Switchgrass varieties grown under various environments were investigated by dispersive and Fourier Transform Near-Infrared (NIR) spectrometers. The collected NIR spectra were analyzed using multivariate approaches. More specifically, principal component analysis (PCA) and projection to latent structures (PLS) regression techniques were employed to classify and predict characteristics of the swi...