Room: Poster Area
Date: Friday, 22 May 2026
Time: 11:30 - 12:45 CEST
Session code 1DV.4
Sustainable integrated agricultural management practices - Prospects of a sustainable production of biomass
Growing Energy Sorghum in Intercropping with Perennial Legumes to Reduce Environmental Impact
Short Introductive summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether intercropping energy sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) or sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) could allow the establishment of perennial forages while growing an energy crop with reduced inputs and lower carbon footprint . This experiment was conducted in Fargo and Prosper, ND, USA in 2023-2024. The design of the experiment was a randomized complete block and four replicates. The treatments for this study included (1) alfalfa alone, (2) alfalfa-sorghum at 40 kg N ha-1 (40N), (3) alfalfa-sorghum at 80 kg N ha-1 (80N), (4) sainfoin alone, (5) sainfoin-sorghum at 40N, (6) sainfoin-sorghum at 80N, and (7) sorghum alone. Energy sorghum biomass yield was reduced by alfalfa and sainfoin if only 40 kg N ha-1 were applied. However at the 80 kg N ha-1 rate sorghum biomass yield was not significantly different from sorghum yield intercropped with a perennial legume.
Presenter
Marisol BERTI
North Dakota State University, Plant Sciences Dpt., USA
Presenter's biography
Dr. Marisol Berti is a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at North Dakota State University. Her area of research includes forages, cover crops, and bioenergy crops for feed and as feedstocks for biofuels and biobased products. Her research goals are to increase perennial forages and cover crops integration into cropping systems in the North Central states to provide sustainability and resilience to cropping systems. Her research has focused mainly on alfalfa production and management, intercropping of alfalfa with corn, sunflower, and forage sorghum; cover crops integration into corn-soybean and wheat systems, forage sorghum for bioenergy production, and winter camelina as an intermediate oilseed crop feedstock for sustainable aviation fuels.
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
F. Omeye, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA
O. Igboke, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA
Session reference: 1DV.4.9