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The Solar Corridor A Call For Peer Review

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Presentation on theme: "The Solar Corridor A Call For Peer Review"— Presentation transcript:

1 The Solar Corridor A Call For Peer Review
Charles LeRoy Deichman Deichman Consulting Session: Bioenergy Production, Modeling, Sustainability, and Policy ASA, CSSA, and SSSA 2010 International Annual Meetings Long Beach, CA October 31 - November 3, 2010

2 Photosynthesis CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2P CHL < CM < GL SS CS AF SUNLIGHT
CATALYST HPF MDAP (kW) OF H2O 360o Carbon Cycle CHL – Chloroplast CM – Chlorophyll Molecule GL – Green Leaf SS – Simple Sugars CS – Complex Sugars AF – Alcohol Fuels HPF – High Protein (VM) Feed MDAP – Meat, Dairy, and Animal Products CO2P – CO2 Sourced Products OF – Organic Fertilizer

3 SUNLIGHT in Corn Production
A Paradigm Shift Corn rows spaced far enough apart to enable sunlight to reach the lower leaves for the entire growing season Enabling the bio capture of more CO2 for BioSynthesis into more photosynthate derived carbon compounds Rows oriented North-South to maximize sunlight falling between the twin row pairs and on the secondary crops Lower leaves are exposed to sunlight Secondary Crop Wheat, then clover Corn Twin Row Grow a shorter symbiotic crop on the vacated row that completes its  peak demand for sunlight before the corn plant begins its increasing demand for that light

4 The New Paradigm Enables the mature chloroplasts to capture more CO2 and produce more photosynthates Enables the highest capacity reproductive sinks to access more photosynthates Enables vegetative sinks to access more photosynthates Cultivar and variety selection is site specific, production inputs then become variety specific   

5 Treatments 12 Production Environments
4 Hybrids (Designated A, B, C, and D) 4 Plant populations 3 Replications Randomized Block Split/Split Plot design 1st split by hybrid, 2nd by plant population   2 Row width entries Control: Single rows on 30 or 36 inch centers Treatment: Twin rows on 60 or 72 inch centers All treatments were in north/south rows between 40 and 41 degrees North latitude Deichman Consulting

6 RESPONSE OF HYBRIDS TO ROW SPACING Average Over 12 Environments And 4 Plant Populations
Deichman Consulting

7 RESPONSE OF HYBRIDS TO ROW SPACING Average Over 8 Highest Yielding Environments And 4 Plant Populations Deichman Consulting

8 RESPONSE OF HYBRIDS TO ROW SPACING Average Over 12 Environments At Highest Yielding Plant Population (30,000) Deichman Consulting

9 Plant Population and Row Width Brenton Sil – Hybrid B
Deichman Consulting

10 Plant Population and Row Width Brenton Sil – Hybrid D
Deichman Consulting

11 HYBRID C – AT 30,000 POPULATION
Site 1 Site 2 Deichman Consulting

12 Floor Crops and Effective Yields
As specifically demonstrated in Solar Corridor Floor Experiments (Deichman, and US Patent # , claims 2 and 4), we can produce other specifically chosen crops between the corn twin rows without a reduction in corn yield.  Our approach has always been to select crops that had no negative impact on corn yield. We have concluded that: Soybeans are not a viable floor crop because of their effect on corn yields. Wheat is a viable floor crop. If careful attention is given to the swath width of the wheat crop,  a full yield (per wheat acre) of wheat can be produced without affecting corn yield (per crop acre). Therefore ½ of the Solar Corridor crop acre can be assigned to corn, and the other ½ to a viable floor crop such as wheat. The effective yields per corn acre are therefore exactly double the yields per crop acre reported on the previous charts. 1 Deichman, C. L., “Solar Corridor Floor Crop Experiments”, ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, November 6-10, 2005, Salt Lake City, 147-9

13 Comparison of Crop Yields Achieving The Goal of 1000 gal/A Ethanol
Conventional Planting The Solar Corridor System 1x Corn Corn Field Wheat and Clover Field 1x Wheat and Clover ≥2x Corn + 1x Wheat and Clover Wheat and Clover Planted Between Widely-spaced Twin Rows of Corn Using the Solar Corridor System, each of the hybrids B, C, & D yielded 192 or more bushels per crop acre (384 bushels per effective corn acre), enough for today's ethanol plants to produce 1000 gallons of ethanol (assuming 2.65 gallons/bushel yield).

14 Summary and Conclusions
Increased productivity can be achieved through the utilization of the Solar Corridor System Sunlight is made available to more chloroplasts to produce more carbohydrates to meet sink demands through physiological maturity Appropriately selected site specific supporting practices maximize Solar Corridor benefits Increased Yield, Reduced Lodging Increased Sequestration of CO2 Solar Corridor floor crop harvest options do exist We need to further develop and refine these options


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