Research

Dr. Moore's research focuses on the production and utilization of perennial crops. His current research emphasizes evaluation of alternative biomass crop species, development of biomass cropping systems, and post-harvest storage and pretreatment strategies. He has conducted several experiments to determine relationships between the structure of plant cell walls and their bioavailability through enzymatic hydrolysis. Research accomplishments in this area include characterization of the structure and digestion kinetics of cell walls in normal and brown midrib sorghums, contrasting genotypes of switchgrass, indiangrass, big bluestem and several Brachiaria species. Dr. Moore has made significant contributions to methodology used to study cell wall structure and digestion including development of improved techniques for studying in vitro digestion kinetics of plant cell walls, and development of a procedure for separating and quantifying lignin-derived phenolics using high resolution gas chromatography. He has extensive research experience working with switchgrass and other perennial grasses. He developed a widely used and cited system for describing and quantifying the developmental morphology of perennial grasses. He has evaluated several alternative crop species for utilization as biomass crops and developed best management practices for growing sweet sorghum and kenaf in Iowa. His cropping systems research includes studies on long and short-term rotations of biomass crops with corn and soybean, and development of perennial cover crops and management strategies for whole corn biomass production systems. Dr. Moore has worked on developing solid-state fermentation systems for storage of corn stover biomass including evaluation of enzymatic and chemical treatments to improve stability during storage and pretreatments to enhance bioavailability of structural carbohydrates.