Effective Microorganisms Could Improve Energy Balance for Biofuel Crops

Any system of energy production seeks to minimize inputs and maximize output in order to produce the best possible energy balance. With crops for biofuels, this means getting the best balance of fertilizer and other inputs inputs versus crop yield. The energy of the sun makes a positive energy balance possible, though much more energy is available than plant photosynthesis utilizes. The article below discusses a method of introducing an ideal population of beneficial microorganisms to the soil in order to maximize yields. Some of these microorganisms are photosynthetic or nitrogen fixing, capable of increasing yields and improving the energy balance with better utilization of available soil nutrients and atmospheric nitrogen. This could help make energy farming more viable.
BENEFICIAL AND EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS:
by Dr. Teruo Higa and Dr. James F. Parr -- 1994

...Although the potential utilization rate of solar energy by plants has been estimated theoretically at between 10 and 20%, the actual utilization rate is less than 1%. Even the utilization rate of C4 plants, such as sugar cane whose photosynthetic efficiency is very high, barely exceeds 6 or 7% during the maximum growth period. The utilization rate is normally less than 3% even for optimum crop yields.
Past studies have shown that photosynthetic efficiency of the chloroplasts of host crop plants cannot be increased much further; this means that their biomass production has reached a maximum level. Therefore, the best opportunity for increasing biomass production is to somehow utilize the visible light, which chloroplasts cannot presently use, and the infrared radiation; together, these comprise about 80% of the total solar energy. Also, we must explore ways of recycling organic energy contained in plant and animal residues through direct utilization of organic molecules by plants (Higa and Wididana, 1991a)...