Identifying biomass yield potential of tetra‐, hexa‐, and octoploid prairie cordgrass populations grown on marginal lands

Abstract

AbstractAs the demand for renewable energy sources with reduced carbon emissions to the atmosphere increases, bioenergy crops remain an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. Another appeal of bioenergy crops is the potential utilization of marginal lands not suitable for food crops. Prairie cordgrass is a perennial warm‐season polyploid grass species that is considered a bioenergy crop that also exhibits a high tolerance for salinity and flooding. The ploidy level of prairie cordgrass has previously been suggested to correlate with agronomic traits. However, little is known about the agricultural performance of prairie cordgrass on marginal lands and if a correlation of ploidy level and stress tolerance exists. In this experiment, the productivity of tetra‐, hexa‐, and octoploids was investigated when grown on three different marginal sites, including waterlogged, saline, and low‐nutrient gravelly soils. Here, we found that prairie cordgrass populations annually produced dry biomass on a wet marginal site comparable to normal cropland. However, the productivity was remarkedly decreased at both a salt‐affected site and a limestone mine reclamation site. We were unable to conclude that different ploidy levels affected the biomass yield of prairie cordgrass grown under abiotic stress. However, there was a differential response of populations to various types of marginal sites. These results indicate potential genetic resources for developing breeding targets and identifying mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance. Moreover, we highlight the need to generate diverse ploidy levels of prairie cordgrass in the same genetic backgrounds for future testing.