By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Corn has lots of potential, but it isn’t the only plant being explored as a potential biomass crop.

Ohio State University researchers at OSU South Centers in Piketon are studying the feasibility of growing giant miscanthus across southern Ohio to be used for combustion and conversion to ethanol.

Giant miscanthus, a perennial warm-season grass from Asia, is garnering attention across the Midwest because of its high biomass output, and its adaptability to many different types of soils. And if feasible, it could open new doors of opportunity for farmers.

“We’re interested in learning how miscanthus performs under field conditions here in southern Ohio,” said Maurus Brown, OSU Extension bioenergy and specialty crop specialist. “This is an educational opportunity for farmers to learn how to plant it, produce it, harvest it and market the biomass to industry.”

Brown is collaborating with Mendel Biotechnology, a developer of energy crops, on a five-year trial. An acre of land on the south centers campus will be used to produce unfertilized miscanthus.
“The data collected will be evaluated to develop a better understanding of crop performance, production practices, input costs, budgeting, harvesting and marketing the biomass crop,” Brown said. “We need to learn more about impacts from insects, diseases, weather and fertility issues.”

Unlike corn, giant miscanthus varieties are not propagated by seed, but by plugs.

The planting rate for the plant is about 4,000 plants per acre. The plant grows through one crop season before it’s ready for harvest. But once established the plant can live up to 15 years. Miscanthus is considered more productive than other biofuel crops, such as switchgrass.

“Miscanthus production is not intended to complete with established field crops like corn and soybeans,” Brown said. “There are plenty of opportunities to grow the crop on marginal land, land not suited for corn or soybean production.”

In Illinois giant miscanthus is garnering lots of praise from researchers and farmers alike.

“What we’ve found with miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce more than twice the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn,” said University of Illinois crop science Professor Stephen P. Long.

Long is deputy director of the BP-sponsored Energy Biosciences Institute, a multi-year, multi-institutional initiative aimed at finding low-carbon or carbon-neutral alternatives to petroleum-based fuel. Long and his associates have experimented with switchgrass, but found miscanthus to be better in the long run.

“One reason why miscanthus yields more biomass than corn is that it produces green leaves about six weeks earlier in the growing season,” Long said. “Miscanthus also stays green until late October in Illinois, while corn leaves wither at the end of August.”