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Research Establishes Value of Switchgrass
Published Friday, July 18, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Researchers in North Dakota have found that soils with native grasses such as switchgrass have higher levels of a key soil component called glomalin than soils planted to non-native grasses. The increased glomalin and underground carbon storage observed with switchgrass adds to its value as a potential source of cellulosic ethanol. Also, scientists say, glomalin is a sugar-protein compound that might trigger the formation of soil.

In testes over a five year period, ARS microbiologist Kristine Nichols collected soil from under grass plots established between 1987 and 2002. The amount of glomalin in the soil increased as the degree of interdependence between plants and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increased. These fungi produce glomalin and live inside plant roots and the surrounding soil. Nichols says - that interdependence is greatest in warm-season native grasses such as switchgrass, blue grama, big bluestem and indiangrass.

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