Special Issue "Agricultural Biomass for Bioenergy and Bioproducts"

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Biosystem and Biological Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2023 | Viewed by 852

Special Issue Editors

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto per la BioEconomia (IBE), 95126 Catania, Italy
Interests: seed germination; abiotic stresses; deficit irrigation; agronomy; crop management; energy biomass crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: agronomy; crop production; biomass crops; bioenergy and bioproducts; crop physiology and modeling; crop management; agrometeorology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, biomass is making a key energy contribution all over the world, supplying over 15% of total energy consumption. Biomass energy mostly derives from steam production by the pulp and paper industry and electrical generation, e.g., with forest industry residues. However, agricultural biomass has great potential to also provide feedstocks to make a wide range of chemicals and raw materials for paper, textiles, colorants, food industries, green buildings, panel furniture, etc. (bioproducts). Agriculture-derived biomass resources account for nearly 25% of the current biomass consumption, and all croplands are assumed to be potential contributors to agriculturally derived biomass feedstocks. This amount of biomass, however, is small in relation to currently available agricultural biomass resources. With improved cropping practices and technologies, significant amounts of agricultural biomasses could be sustainably produced.

This Special Issue will focus on “Agricultural Biomass for Bioenergy and Bioproducts”. We invite authors to contribute to the Special Issue with novel research articles and reviews covering all topics (fertilization, water-saving strategies, landrace exploitation, modeling, climate adaptation, biomass quality, etc.) in agricultural biomass production. Articles concerning the adoption of new technologies applied to agricultural biomass production are also welcome.

Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be subject to peer review in order to allow rapid dissemination of results.

Dr. Cristina Patanè
Prof. Dr. Salvatore Cosentino
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agronomic management
  • bioenergy
  • biomass crops
  • bioproducts

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Seed Germination of Two Hybrids Obtained via Cross-Pollination between Miscanthus sinensis × Miscanthus sacchariflorus
Agronomy 2023, 13(5), 1350; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051350 - 11 May 2023
Viewed by 562
Abstract
To date, economically and energy-costly vegetative propagation using rhizomes and tissue culture are the only options for the cultivation of Miscanthus spp. Some genotypes of miscanthus produce fertile seeds, offering a valid alternative to vegetative propagation. A preliminary study has been conducted on [...] Read more.
To date, economically and energy-costly vegetative propagation using rhizomes and tissue culture are the only options for the cultivation of Miscanthus spp. Some genotypes of miscanthus produce fertile seeds, offering a valid alternative to vegetative propagation. A preliminary study has been conducted on the seeds of two hybrids of miscanthus obtained via interspecific cross-pollination between M. sacchariflorus and M. sinensis: ‘GRC14’ (maternal: M. sacchariflorus) and ‘GRC10B’ (maternal: M. sinensis). Seeds were assessed for germination traits in a laboratory (at 25 °C in the dark) just after panicle harvest, and during 1-year storage at room temperature or at 8 °C. In a second experiment, the effects of gibberellic acid (GA3) solution at different concentrations (0, 50, 100, 300, 500 ppm) on the germination of freshly matured seeds were assessed. Poor germination just after harvest (<30%) indicates the occurrence of a physiological dormancy. Indeed, two months later, germination rose up to 76.7% in ‘GRC14’ and 50.8%, in ‘GRC10B’, and peaked at 95.6% in ‘GRC14’ and at 78% in ‘GRC10B’, 6 months after harvest. After a total of 12 months, germination was significantly reduced in both hybrids (≈60%). Seeds stored at room temperature lost dormancy earlier than those stored at 8 °C. Overall, germination was significantly improved by GA3, but the extent of the GA effect was genotype-dependent. In conclusion, a low establishment rate may result from direct seeding when fresh seed is used in the field. In this case, the use of GA3 is a possible strategy to ameliorate the impact of dormancy on seed germination. In the case of delayed sowings in late winter–early spring, seeds stored at room temperature after harvest may better perform than those stored at 8 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Biomass for Bioenergy and Bioproducts)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop