Weather-Resistant Crops: the Bioenergy Fuel of the Future

Business News/Analysis, Education, Energy, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, Feedstock, Feedstocks, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Government Resources, R & D Focus, Resources, Sustainability, University/College Programs, Washington

July 7, 2021

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Bio Market Insights) … Finding a way to increase crop yields without encroaching on either food crops or natural habitats is a novel challenge, but it is one that may soon have a solution. Researchers from Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy (CAB) are looking into biotech solutions to make planting bioenergy crops easier, and less invasive on arable land.

Making super crops

Boosting crop resilience is something that has been harnessed in the food industry for years, used to strengthen food security in the face of weather volatility from climate change and rising demand from an expanding global population. Now, this same principle is being applied to bioenergy crops.

…

Given that the rate of biofuel expansion relies on land availability, the work undertaken at CAB looks to improve crop resilience, allowing for plantations to be located at sites typically hostile to plant life.

Led by Professor Sagadevan Mundree, CAB launched its research project earlier this month alongside Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a US Department of Energy lab. Intended to take place over the next five years, the project will look to make bioenergy crops drought and stress resistant – examining the role of plant microbe interactions in establishing these features, as well as enhancing plant productivity and nutrient acquisition in a bid to make these crops economically competitive with fossil fuels.

Findings from the project are hoped to boost production of the crops and stimulate greater uptake of its use as a renewable fuel. Mundree has been working with improving plant stress tolerance for the past 25 years, though previously this work was harnessed in service of the food industry.

…

“We need to keep arable land for growing food so are looking for ways to make bioenergy crops, like sweet sorghum and switchgrass, resilient to the climate conditions and soil quality of small marginal land,” he adds. “Marginal land may be in areas of extreme temperatures or have poor quality soils that are highly saline, acidic and prone to drought. Making plants more resilient to those environmental conditions will improve crop survival and production of feedstocks that we can use for renewable fuels.”

How will it be done?

The team identified features in Australian resurrection grass which, when applied to biofuel crops, would strengthen them against extreme weather conditions. READ MORE

Comments are closed.

Advanced BioFuels USA