The need to generate a large and sustainable supply of biomass to make biofuels from lignocellulose materials will require identification and development of crops grown for the emerging biofuel industry. The objective of this research was to screen and evaluate the biomass and ethanol yield potential and the inputs necessary to produce several commonly grown annual and perennial forages in North Dakota. Several experiments including several crops, and management practices were conducted in 2009 and 2010 in North Dakota. Results indicate crops such as forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) have the potential of producing up to 34 Mg/ha of dry matter and 3,039 L/ha of ethanol in one season. All other warm-season and cool-season annual forages evaluated had lower biomass yield. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) biomass production was 18 to 20 Mg/ha of dry matter per season. Forage sorghum was identified as the most promising annual biomass bioenergy crop for North Dakota. Alfalfa has a great potential to become a perennial biomass crop since it has high yield potential, uses less oil-derived production inputs than other crops, growers are familiar with its benefits, and the crop is already grown on millions of hectares in the North Central United States.

Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 183-190