South Dakota State University researchers have won a major federal grant to help them map the genes of prairie cordgrass, a native grass that could be used to make cellulosic ethanol. South Dakota ...

Most prime agricultural land is used to produce food crops, leaving biofuel producers to establish crops on marginal land. The soil on marginal land is often salty, making crop production difficult.

URBANA -- When D.K. Lee and Lane Rayburn, faculty members in the crop sciences department at the University of Illinois, talk about prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) they have difficulty ...

When D.K. Lee and Lane Rayburn, faculty members in the crop sciences department at the University of Illinois, talk about prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) they have difficulty containing their ...

Big bluestem grows from 60-108 inches tall, while switchgrass, Indiangrass, and prairie cordgrass all are in the 60- to 84-inch range. All of these are prairie grasses and, except for prairie ...

By noon, Miscanthus and switchgrass had turned black. The only plant that was untouched was prairie cordgrass.” Lee already knew that prairie cordgrass, Spartina pectinata, was especially ...

Credit: Lisa Powell / Staff Big bluestem, prairie cordgrass and dense blazing star stand tall along the path. Grassland sparrows, short-eared owls and bobolinks, a “beautiful black and yellow ...

“We evaluated germination and plant growth for prairie cordgrass accessions and switchgrass cultivars in a greenhouse study,” says crop scientist D.K. Lee. In crop production, too much salt in ...