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<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 18pt"><FONT color=#000000>Joint
college-corporate research focuses on switchgrass<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">By Staff and Wire Reports<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007>, </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa</st1:place></st1:City>
World<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007>
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT color=#000000>12/5/2007
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=892553720-05122007>S</SPAN>ince President
Bush slipped the seldom-heard term "switchgrass" into his 2006 State of the
Union Address, the prairie grass has been in vogue.<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Because it's a perennial crop, it needs less fertilizer,
recycling nutrients at the end of every season. It also puts down a deep root
system, which helps it combat soil erosion, and adds to soil organic carbon
every year.<SPAN class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT color=#000000>"Switchgrass is a wonderful crop for
the soil and environment," said Anna Rath, vice president of commercial
development for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> energy crop company Ceres
Inc.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Switchgrass will now be the focus of the five-year
research and development collaboration between <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">South Dakota</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and Ceres -- an attempt to
maintain and build on the plant's positive attributes while working to boost its
yield.<SPAN class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=892553720-05122007>S</SPAN>witchgrass, a
native prairie grass tapped as a potential feedstock for ethanol, is a hardy
plant that's disease resistant and drought tolerant, said Arvid Boe, a professor
in the plant science department on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">South Dakota</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> campus in Brookings.<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007> C</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
color=#000000>eres, based in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Thousand
Oaks</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Calif.</st1:State></st1:place>, also is
working to develop commercial varieties of forage sorghum, miscanthus and energy
cane for use as energy crops.</FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#000000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Energy companies moving from corn-based to cellulosic
ethanol will benefit from developing a portfolio of various feedstocks, Rath
said.<SPAN class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Biorefineries may want to choose multiple crops -- even
within the same geographic areas -- to vary harvest times and mitigate risks of
diseases, pests and drought conditions, she said.<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
color=#000000>The research should be of interest in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:State>, where political
leaders have been trying to encourage the building of biofuel facilities that
use switchgrass, which grows in the state.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>In August, $2.5 million in Sun Grant
Initiative monies -- funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation --
were given out. One of the recipients was <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Oklahoma</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>, which is participating in a joint project
with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Kansas State</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Arkansas</st1:State></st1:place> and Texas A&M to breed
and test new switchgrass varieties for biomass production.<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN><FONT
color=#000000><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">South
Dakota</SPAN></FONT></st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, which also has researchers working
with prairie cordgrass and little bluestem, has had a grass breeding program
since the late 1940s. The school has been working with native grasses since the
1960s. But earlier projects focused on the grasses' use as forage in pastures
and wildlife habitats.</FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000
size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000>"Now we are sort of changing our
focus here and concentrating more on just biomass yield," Boe said.<SPAN
class=892553720-05122007> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
color=#000000>Kevin Kephart, the university's vice president for research, said
SDSU was ahead of the game when Bush raised switchgrass' profile because
researchers working two decades ago anticipated the plant's day would someday
come.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"We had a valuable breeding program and pool of germ
plasm for switchgrass, and so that level of research was maintained at SDSU," he
said. "It went away at other institutions."<SPAN class=892553720-05122007>
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Researchers will begin by
identifying germ classes that appear to have the potential of developing high
yields. The process will involve evaluating different genotypes under different
growing conditions.<SPAN class=892553720-05122007>
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT color=#000000>"Since we're thinking about a pretty
wide area here, it means that we have to evaluate materials in different
locations around the state and maybe even in other adjacent states," Boe said.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face="Monotype Corsiva" size=4><STRONG>Linda Mason,
Ed.D.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>Coordinator for Grants and
</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>External Funding
Assistance</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>Oklahoma State Regents for
Higher Education</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>655 Research Parkway, Suite
200</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>Oklahoma City, OK
73104</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
size=1>405-225-9486</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
size=1>800-858-1840</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1>405-225-9230
Fax</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1><A
href="mailto:lmason@osrhe.edu">lmason@osrhe.edu</A></FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=1>web: <A
href="http://www.okhighered.org/grant-opps/">www.okhighered.org/grant-opps/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=1>IP: 164.58.250.178 (on
24hr/7days/wk)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
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<DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=1></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
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