Geneticist Bill Anderson measures the height of napiergrass, one
of the prime candidates for biofuel production in the Southeast.
Napiergrass could be a viable biofuel crop in the southern tier
of Southeastern states, a USDA-ARS study shows. Also known as
elephant grass, this tall-growing subtropical perennial is
fairly drought-tolerant, grows well on marginal land and filters
nutrients out of runoff in riparian areas, says Bill Anderson, a
geneticist at USDA’s Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit in
Tifton, GA. As part of a nationwide search for alternative
biofuel crops, he and his colleagues compared the biomass yields
and soil nutrient requirements of napiergrass, energy cane,
switchgrass and giant reed in a four-year study. “Energy cane
and napiergrass are not as cold tolerant as switchgrass, but
they do offer advantages in areas where they can be produced,
such as continued vegetative growth until killing frost,”
Anderson says. The researchers are evaluating napiergrass with
an eye toward improving