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Read the
magazine
story to find out more. Alfalfa as a
Fuel--and a Plastic?By Don Comis July 16, 2002U.S.
Department of Agriculture bioenergy funds are being used to convert alfalfa
into the first dual-use biofuel plant. The leaf serves as a factory for raw,
biodegradable plastic beads, other industrial products or better livestock
feed, while the stem goes to ethanol production. JoAnn Lamb, a plant breeder who serves on a team of five scientists at the
Agricultural Research Service's
Plant Science Research
Unit in St. Paul, Minn., has created the "parents" for new
alfalfa varieties by crossing European varieties with unusually thick stems
with modern alfalfa varieties developed for dairy feed. The thick stems provide
more raw material for ethanol production. Team member Deborah Samac, an ARSplant pathologist, has transformed alfalfa so it can manufacture plastic. The
process isn't practical yet, but it could be, if a cell wall barrier could be
prevented from trapping beads of plastic. With the USDA funding, ARS animal scientist Hans Jung will develop tests to
screen alfalfa plants to find those with the most sugar and starch in their
stems and the most digestible fiber. These types of stems would provide more
material for conversion to ethanol by fermentation microbes. ARS will also use the funding to hire a biochemist/geneticist to find genes
that further improve the stems' conversion to ethanol. Besides plastics and fuel, alfalfa may be a renewable resource for replacing
other petroleum-based products and nonrenewable resources, such as nitrogen and
phosphorus fertilizers. Carroll Vance, team member and unit research leader,
has isolated many genes for creating new varieties, including one that helps
alfalfa fix more nitrogen from the air and take in more phosphorus. Because alfalfa absorbs nitrogen from deep in the soil, ARS soil scientist
Michael Russelle sees a major role for alfalfa in preventing fertilizer from
polluting water. More information on this alfalfa research can be found in the
July 2002 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine. ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency. Story contacts Plant Science Research Plant Science Research Joann F Lamb Michael P Russelle Deborah A Samac Carroll P Vance U.S. Department of Agriculture |