[permaculture] [Fwd: Glomalin's Role in Ethanol Success]
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lflj at intrex.net
Fri Oct 12 08:56:55 EDT 2007
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Glomalin's Role in Ethanol Success
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:20:00 -0400
From: ARS News Service <NewsService at ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService at ars.usda.gov>
To: ARS News subscriber <lflj at bellsouth.net>
STORY LEAD:
Glomalin: A Key to Switchgrass Ethanol Success
___________________________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Linda Tokarz, (301) 504-1658, linda.tokarz at ars.usda.gov
October 12, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
___________________________________________
If switchgrass succeeds as an ethanol crop, it will owe some of its success to glomalin, the key ingredient of soil
organic matter.
Glomalin was discovered in 1996 by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Sara F. Wright--now retired--and
ARS microbiologist Kristine A. Nichols, then both at Beltsville, Md. Nichols is now at the ARS Northern Great Plains
Research Laboratory in Mandan, N.D., where glomalin work continues.
A sugar protein, glomalin is excreted by soil fungi and helps them funnel water and nutrients into plant roots. It also
helps store carbon in the soil and acts as a “glue” to hold soil particles together.
In assessing glomalin levels and their role in biofuel crops, Nichols has measured higher levels of glomalin in the
roots of switchgrass, big bluestem and other warm-season grasses than in the roots of cool-season grasses such as
wheatgrass and Russian wild rye. Switchgrass is a fast-growing, warm-season perennial with potential as a feedstock for
cellulosic ethanol production.
Preliminary results show that warm-season grasses such as switchgrass and big bluestem also give soil more stability.
Nichols found a strong association between warm-season grasses and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that live on plant
roots and produce glomalin.
Glomalin may be partly responsible for the ability of switchgrass to store more soil carbon than corn--and to store it
deeper, so it’s less likely to be lost to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Thus, glomalin might not only help biofuel
crops grow and flourish under adverse conditions like drought, but also close the carbon cycle by storing carbon
released as carbon dioxide during the burning of biofuels for energy.
Nichols’ work could help growers know how to best establish switchgrass, and to make sure as much carbon as possible is
stored below ground.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
___________________________________________
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__________________________________________
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