Developing Perennial Grains
description
Transcript of Developing Perennial Grains
Developing Perennial Grains
Lee DeHaanThe Land Institute
2.8 cm of soil loss reduces productivity by about 7%, due primarily to loss of water infiltration, water holding capacity and nutrient supply
Pimental et al. 2004
No-till croplandCentral IowaJ. Scheibel 2013
Just developing new software will never make a laptop
20% Kernza
0 1 2 30
200
400
600
800
1000
R² = 0.707440209308823
Selection Cycle
Seed
Yie
ld (k
g/Ha
)
Field Performance of Starting and Selected Kernza Plants
Forage Varieties
50 florets
168 florets105
florets
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45 Conventional fertilizer (high amount applied)
3/15/2
011
3/27/2
011
4/8/2
011
4/20/2
011
5/2/2
011
5/14/2
011
5/26/2
011
6/7/2
011
6/19/2
011
7/1/2
011
7/13/2
011
7/25/2
011
8/6/2
011
8/18/2
011
8/30/2
011
9/11/2
011
9/23/2
011
10/5/2
011
10/17/2
0110
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45 Organic system
Annual
Perennial
Nitr
ate
conc
entr
ation
in w
ater
bel
ow th
e ro
ot zo
ne (m
g/L)
Kernza plots in Michigan nearly eliminate leaching of nitrates into the ground water.
Organic fertilizer system has less leaching, but the annual wheat still “leaks” much more than the perennial Kernza.
Culman et al. 2013
wheat Kernza wheat KernzaConventional Organic
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
Grain Vegetation
Yiel
d of
dry
matt
er (k
g pe
r hec
tare
)
Comparison of wheat (annual) and Kernza (perennial) yield in Michigan, 2011 (Michigan State Univ., Culman, et al. 2013)
B1126F3
Ray florets per head: • 2006 average= 30, max = 42• 2008 cross >45; 2010 cross if > 60; • 2012 average = 52, max = 164
Helianthus maxamiliani
Silphium integrifolium
Sorghum bicolorSorghum halepense
PerennialRice
• Soil erosion in uplands of southeast Asia has been a serious problem that led to the project of developing perennial upland rice at IRRI (IRRI 1989)
Upland Rice in Yunnan, China
Also could aid aerobic rice production
Site/harvest no. Perennial Annual Notes
Jinghong
1 5619 5712
2 3905 (birds) 5437
3 4027 4513 3.5% mortality
Simao
1 7350 7145
2 temperatures too cold
3 6720 6810 5.4% mortality
Yields of PR 23 perennial (ratooning) rice over 3 harvests (2 years)
www.landinstitute.org