Genomics:GTL

Potential Biofeedstock: Prairie Cordgrass

Prairie cordgrass. Photo courtesy USDA.

Prairie cordgrass is a native perennial grass that occurs widely across the Great Plains and is found throughout the northern United States and southern Canada. One of the tallest grasses in North America, prairie cordgrass reaches an average height of 3 to 8 feet, but can grow up to 10 feet tall.

This grass species is also known as ripgut, marsh grass, and slough grass, which refer to the wet conditions in which it thrives. It’s typically found on lower, poorly drained soils in marshy meadows, wet prairies, and potholes, as well as along roadsides, ditches, and streams. Although prairie cordgrass prefers deep, heavy, wet lowland soils, it also adapts to rocky or sandy soils if consistent moisture is maintained. Its C₄ metabolism enables it to survive occasional droughts. Ecotypes occur in both freshwater and brackish, saltwater marshes.

Prairie cordgrass has the most northerly distribution of any of the C₄ perennial grasses, which may give it a wider environmental range than switchgrass for biomass production in the northern Great Plains. Prairie cordgrass grows faster than other tall grass prairie meadows and is conspicuously taller than switchgrass where their distributions overlap. It’s also better adapted to soils that are too wet and insufficiently aerated for switchgrass.

In experimental field trials at South Dakota State University from 2001–04, even unimproved prairie cordgrass genotypes produced nearly 10 metric tons per hectare, roughly twice as much as the best switchgrass varieties. In southeastern England, average yields in excess of 10 metric tons per hectare were achieved over 7 years of harvesting.

Prairie cordgrass also has value in wetland revegetation, streambank stabilization, and wildlife habitat. Its stiff stem and vigorous rhizomes enable it to provide good shoreline cover, dissipating wave energy and preventing erosion. Its thick stands around marshes also provide good cover for game birds, song birds, and small mammals.

References
Boe, Arvid, et al. “Genetic Variation for Biomass Production in Prairie Cordgrass and Switchgrass,” Crop Science, 47:929–934 (2007).

www.northern.edu/natsource/GRASSES/Prairi1.htm

Plant Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.

Potter, et al. “The Potential of Two Perennial C₄ Grasses and a Perennial C₄ Sedge as Ligno-Cellulosic Fuel Crops in N.W. Europe. Crop Establishment and Yields in E. England,” Annals of Botany, 76:513–520 (1995).