Bioenergy feedstock production on degraded land can serve as a means for modulating land competition for food versus energy. Due to little or no agricultural value of degraded soil, fortification of the soil with an organic amendment or inoculum will improve biomass productivity. However, as farmers struggle to rejuvenate their degraded land, there is a need for a quick screening strategy to select the best method of enhancing cellulosic (switchgrass, SG) biomass production in degraded soil. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of soil amendment and inoculation strategies on biomass productivities of SG in a reclaimed surface-mined soil (RMS). Experiments were conducted in the greenhouse using moisture replacement microcosms (MRM) to screen strategies for enhancing biomass productivities of SG in a RMS. Strategies included soil amendment with organic by-products (poultry litter, paper mill sludge, and vermicompost), inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers), or a commercial preparation of endomycorrhizae fungi (AMF, BioVam). Experiments were implemented with ten (10) treatments with six replicates for each treatment. After eight weeks of incubation in MRM systems, inoculation of RMS with AMF produced the highest aboveground and total biomass (0.9 g and 1.77 g per microcosm container) at p < 0.05. The total biomass of commercial AMF significantly (p < 0.05) outperformed all other treatments in the order of AMF > AMF + VC > PMS + N > VC = PMS = PL > PMS + AMF > N + P > ASL > Control. This microcosm screening experiment served as a quick screening to establish that soil enhancement and inoculation strategies can enhance biomass productivities of SG in degraded soil.

退化土地上的生物能源原料生产可作为调节土地竞争粮食与能源的手段。由于退化土壤的农业价值很小或没有，因此用有机改良剂或接种物强化土壤可以提高生物量的生产率。然而，由于农民努力恢复其退化的土地，因此需要一种快速筛选策略，以选择增强退化土壤中纤维素（柳枝switch，SG）生物量生产的最佳方法。这项研究的目的是评估土壤改良剂和接种策略对开垦表层开采土壤（RMS）中SG生物量生产力的影响。在温室中使用水分替代微观世界（MRM）进行了实验，以筛选用于提高RMS中SG的生物量生产率的策略。策略包括用有机副产品（家禽垫料，造纸厂污泥和ver堆肥），无机养分（氮和磷肥）或商业化的内生菌根真菌（AMF，BioVam）对土壤进行改良。用十（10）个处理实施实验，每个处理重复六次。在MRM系统中孵育八周后，用AMF接种RMS产生了最高的地上生物量和总生物量（每个微缩容器为0.9 g和1.77 g），p <0.05。商业AMF的总生物量以AMF> AMF + VC> PMS + N> VC = PMS = PL> PMS + AMF> N + P> ASL>对照的顺序显着（p <0.05）优于所有其他处理。