Search Results (20)

Miscanthus × giganteus (Greef and Deuter ex Hodkinson and Renvoize) is a perennial, rhizomatous grass that has gained significant attention as an industrial crop, particularly as a bioenergy feedstock. It is a natural interspecific hybrid with 57 chromosomes (2n = 3x = 57). Due to its sterility, M. × giganteus has limited genetic variability, making traditional breeding methods ineffective for its improvement. Consequently, alternative approaches are being explored to enhance its cultivation and utility. The study aimed to investigate the potential for M. × giganteus plant regeneration through ovary and flower bud cultures. Indirect in vitro regeneration of M. × giganteus plants was successfully achieved using flower bud cultures. Embryogenic-like callus was derived from explants originating from inflorescences that had undergone a four-day pretreating at 10 °C. The most effective medium for callus induction was a modified MS medium supplemented with 5 mg·dm⁻³ dicamba, 0.2 mg dm⁻³ 6-benzylaminopurine, 30 g dm⁻³ sucrose, and solidified with 8 g dm⁻³ agar or agarose. The optimal conditions for callus induction were achieved by culturing in the dark. The regenerated plants exhibited the characteristic chromosome number of the species, confirming that the regenerants did not develop from embryo sac cells. In contrast, ovary culture failed to produce callus or regenerated plants, highlighting its ineffectiveness for M. × giganteus regeneration. These findings underscore the potential of flower bud culture as a successful in vitro regeneration method while demonstrating the limitations of ovary culture for this species. Full article

Both annual (cotton, flax, hemp, etc.) and perennial (trees and grasses) plants can serve as a source of cellulose for fiber production. In recent years, the perennial herbaceous plant miscanthus has attracted particular interest as a popular industrial plant with enormous potential. This industrial crop, which contains up to 57% cellulose, serves as a raw material in the chemical and biotechnology sectors. This study proposes for the first time the utilization of miscanthus, namely Miscanthus Giganteus “KAMIS”, to generate spinning solutions in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide. Miscanthus cellulose’s properties were identified using standard methods for determining the constituent composition, including also IR and atomic emission spectroscopy. The dry-jet wet method was used to make fibers from cellulose solutions with an appropriate viscosity/elasticity ratio. The structural characteristics of the fibers were studied using IR and scanning electron microscopy, as well as via X-ray structural analysis. The mechanical and thermal properties of the novel type of hydrated cellulose fibers demonstrated the possibility of producing high-quality fibers from miscanthus. Full article

Food security and energy transition are among the current major global environmental challenges. Although these issues individually are significant in their own right, they are connected to each other in a nexus with different interrelationships and dependencies. In the quest for non-fossil alternatives for energy, cultivation of bioenergy crops has become an important part of the energy policy in many countries. In this regard, the use of fertile agricultural land for growing crops for energy production rather than for food supply affects the global food security. Recent conflicts and the geopolitical crisis in Europe, leading to increased food, fuel, and fertiliser prices, the existing climate crisis, and the crisis caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have further reinforced the understanding of this nexus, with certain countries mulling limiting biofuel production from agricultural land and others banning food grain exports to safeguard food supply. The idea of growing non-food energy crops on marginal lands in general and closed landfill sites in particular is hence ever more relevant, to avoid land-use concurrence between food needs and energy needs. Landfilling has been the dominant waste management strategy until recently in European countries and is still the dominant mode of waste management in low-income regions like South Asia. This paper provides a review of the economic as well as environmental benefits of growing Ricinus communis L., Jatropha curcas L., and Populus deltoides as energy crops on closed landfill sites in the South Asian context. While as the cultivation of Miscanthus X Giganteus, Silphium perfoliatum L., and Panicum virgatum (Switchgrass) is reviewed in the European context. The cultivation of non-food energy crops like these on closed landfill sites and marginal lands is presented as a potential component of an integrated food-energy policy, with an increased relevance in the current times. In the current times of multiple crises, this measure is of increasing relevance as a part of the overall strategy to achieve resilience and environmental sustainability. Full article

The cultivation of perennial biomass crops (PBCs) on marginal lands is necessary to provide feedstock for the bio-based EU economy and accrue environmental benefits through carbon (C) sequestration in soil. Short rotation coppice (SRC) species, e.g., willow, black locust, and poplar, and perennial rhizomatous grasses, e.g., miscanthus, switchgrass, and giant reed, have been tested in many EU projects in the last 10 years to investigate their productive potential and contribution to the mitigation of climate change. A major knowledge gap regarding PBCs is the fate of accumulated soil organic carbon (SOC), once PBC plantations are reverted to arable crops. In this study, the effects of PBCs reversion on SOC and carbon-dioxide emission (CO₂) were monitored over a 2-year period in a long-term (11-year) multispecies trial of six PBCs: Three SRC species including poplar (Populus spp.), willow (Salix spp.), and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), and three herbaceous rhizomatous grasses including miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and giant reed (Arundo donax). The SOC change and GHG emissions were then modeled with the ECOSSE model. Two years after the reversion, SOC increased significantly for all PBCs with no significant difference between them. During the PBC cultivation phase, 5.35 Mg SOC ha⁻¹ was sequestered while 10.95 Mg SOC ha⁻¹ was added by reversion, which indicated that 67% of SOC sequestration occurred after the reversion. The ECOSSE model was successfully used to simulate SOC sequestration trajectories (R² = 0.77) and CO₂ emission from soil (R² = 0.82) after the reversion of the six PBCs. This indicated that the high SOC sequestration rate after the reversion was due to humification of belowground biomass (roots + rhizomes/stumps), which had been mulched and incorporated into the reversion layer (0–30 cm). This occurred in the first 2 months (on average 5.47 Mg SOC ha⁻¹ y⁻¹) and in the first year after the reversion (1.3–1.8 Mg SOC ha⁻¹ y⁻¹). Considering the entire PBCs cultivation cycle (13 years of PBCs + reversion), PBCs showed annual SOC sequestration rates higher than 1 Mg SOC ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, placing PBCs cultivation and reversion as one of the most promising agricultural practices to combine biomass production, with the recovery of marginal lands to agricultural production through increasing the SOC. Full article

The Nature Reserve Malpaga-Basella, located along the Serio River in Lombardy, was recently established in 2017. It is interesting as it presents plant species typical in dry grassland habitats, not present in the surrounding area. In this study, Heteroptera were surveyed in the Nature Reserve and in a bordering giant Miscanthus crop in 2019. The biodiversity of the reserve was well characterized by the presence of species linked to arid environments with steppe or Mediterranean characteristics, like Antheminia lunulata. Four species new for Lombardy were collected, Lygus italicus, Drymus pilipes, Ortholomus punctipennis, and Arenocoris waltlii. Giant Miscanthus hosted only a few ubiquitous species, also collected in the Nature Reserve. Full article

The paper investigates the optimization of ecosystem services of podzolized heavy loamy chernozem (black soil) as a result of the cultivation of the perennial energy culture of Miscanthus x giganteus. The research was conducted on an experimental land plot during 2016–2021. No fertilization was applied to the soil during the experiments, and over the years of research, the growing seasons were accompanied by abnormal droughts, but even under such conditions, the plants of Miscanthus x giganteus gradually increased their yield. At the initial stage of research, in the third year of cultivation, dry biomass of Miscanthus x giganteus was obtained at 14.3 t/ha, in the fourth year–18.6 t/ha, and already in the fifth and sixth years, 21.7 and 24.5 t/ha, respectively. That is, energy-wise, the harvest for the last year was equivalent to 15.9 tons of coal or 12,618 m³ of natural gas. Cultivation of Miscanthus x giganteus on black soil for six years has improved the provision of its ecosystem services, regulation, and ecosystem maintenance services. The possibility of growing perennial energy crops on agricultural soils has been proven by obtaining a significant amount of biomass and a positive phytoremediation effect on the soil by reducing erosion, preserving biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and sustainably improving the ecological situation. Full article

Few conservation strategies have been applied to cultivated peatland. This field study over one growth cycle of Lactuca sativa examined the effect of plant-based, high-C/N-ratio amendments in a real farming situation on peatland. Plant Root Simulator (PRS^®) probes were used directly in the field to assess the impacts of incorporating Miscanthus x giganteus straw and Salix miyabeana chips on nutrient availability for lettuce. The results showed that lettuce yield decreased by 35% in the miscanthus straw treatment and by 14% in the willow chip treatment. In addition, the nitrogen flux rate was severely reduced during crop growth (75% reduction) and the plant N uptake index was much lower in the amended treatments than in the control. The phosphorus supply rate was also significantly lower (24% reduction) in the willow treatment. The influence of sampling zone was significant as well, with most macro-nutrients being depleted in the root zone and most micro-nutrients being mobilized. Additional work is needed to optimize the proposed conservation strategy and investigate the effects of consecutive years of soil amendment on different vegetable crops and in different types of cultivated peatlands to confirm and generalize the findings of this study. Future field studies should also explore the long-term carbon dynamics under plant-based, high-C/N-ratio amendments to determine if they can offset annual C losses. Full article

Miscanthus x giganteus is a spontaneous sterile hybrid therefore the creation of useful genetic diversity by conventional breeding methods is restricted. Plant regeneration through indirect organogenesis may be a useful approach to create genetic variability of this important agricultural crop. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the explant type and growth regulators on indirect organogenesis of Miscanthus x giganteus and to determine the ploidy level of plant regenerants by flow cytometry. On average, the highest percentage of morphogenic callus tested explants formed in the medium supplemented with 2.5 mg L^–1 IBA + 0.1 mg L^–1 BAP + 4.0 mg L^–1 l-proline. The most intensive secondary differentiation of callus cells was observed in the medium supplemented with 4.0 mg L^–1 ZEA + 1.0 mg L^–1 NAA. The highest root formation frequency with the highest number of roots was determined in the MS nutrient medium supplemented with 0.4 mg L^–1 IBA, where more than 95% of plant regenerants survived and were growing normally. Full article

Cultivation of perennials such as Miscanthus x giganteus Greef et Deuter (Mis) combines the provision of ecosystem services and the generation of additional carbon sources for farming. The potential of Mis based fertilisers, regarding immobilisation of inorganic nitrogen (N) and build-up of soil organic matter (SOM), was tested in a field trial. Therefore, a crop rotation of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), mustard (Sinapis alba L.) as catch crop, sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was set up. The tested treatments were a mixture of Cattle Slurry (CS) and Mis, a mixture of CS and Wheat Straw (CS–WS), Cattle Manure (CM) from Mis shredded bedding, CM from WS shredded bedding, a pure CS, Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) and a treatment without any N applied (NoN). When the carbon-rich fertilisers (both mixtures and manures) were applied to cereals, they led to a slight N immobilisation compared to pure CS, whereas differences were mostly not significant. Furthermore, Mis fertilisers were at least as efficient as WS-based organic fertilisers in inducing a contribution of SOM build-up and in reducing inorganic N before winter and thus preventing N losses, whereas differences were mostly not significant. Full article

The application of municipal sewage sludge as fertilizer in the production of non-food energy crops is an environmentally and economically sustainable approach to sewage sludge management. In addition, the application of municipal sewage sludge to energy crops such as Miscanthus x giganteus is an alternative form of recycling nutrients and organic material from waste. Municipal sewage sludge is a potential source of heavy metals in the soil, some of which can be removed by growing energy crops that are also remediation agents. Therefore, the objective of the research was to investigate the effect of municipal sewage sludge applied at three different rates of 1.66, 3.22 and 6.44 t/ha on the production of Miscanthus. Based on the analyses conducted on the biomass of Miscanthus fertilized with sludge from the wastewater treatment plant in three fertilization treatments, it can be concluded that the biomass of Miscanthus is a good feedstock for the process of direct combustion. Moreover, the application of the largest amount of municipal sewage sludge during cultivation had no negative effect on the properties of Miscanthus biomass. Moreover, the cellulose and hemicellulose content of Miscanthus is ideal for the production of second-generation liquid biofuels. Fertilizer treatments had no effect on the content of cellulose and lignin, while a significant statistical difference was found for hemicellulose. Full article

Second-generation biofuel crop miscanthus is one of the most promising plants tested for phytomanagement of contaminated sites. In this preliminary pot case study, the most used hybrid Miscanthus x giganteus was cultivated in three different real contaminated soils: agricultural soil contaminated with Cd; post-military soil slightly contaminated with Zn, Pb and Cd; and soil contaminated by petroleum industry with metals and hydrocarbons. The stress response of plants and soil microbial communities was monitored to receive data that are important for successful phytomanagement application. With metals only, the plant grew well, and chlorophyll fluorescence measurement proved their good vitality. Changes in leaf anatomy (leaf thickness and sclerenchyma cells area) were additionally determined in post-military soil compared to agricultural. On the contrary, in petroleum-contaminated soil, the biomass yield was too reduced and also physiological parameters were significantly decreased. The response of microbial communities also differed. In agricultural soil, no microbial stress was determined. In post-military soil, it became reduced during the experiment, and in petroleum contamination, it increased year-on-year. It could be concluded that miscanthus is suitable for cultivation in metals contaminated soils with potential for microbial communities support, but in soil contaminated by the petroleum industry, its application did not seem meaningful. Full article

As a low-input crop, Miscanthus offers numerous advantages that, in addition to agricultural applications, permits its exploitation for energy, fuel, and material production. Depending on the Miscanthus genotype, season, and harvest time as well as plant component (leaf versus stem), correlations between structure and properties of the corresponding isolated lignins differ. Here, a comparative study is presented between lignins isolated from M. x giganteus, M. sinensis, M. robustus and M. nagara using a catalyst-free organosolv pulping process. The lignins from different plant constituents are also compared regarding their similarities and differences regarding monolignol ratio and important linkages. Results showed that the plant genotype has the weakest influence on monolignol content and interunit linkages. In contrast, structural differences are more significant among lignins of different harvest time and/or season. Analyses were performed using fast and simple methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Data was assigned to four different linkages (A: β-O-4 linkage, B: phenylcoumaran, C: resinol, D: β-unsaturated ester). In conclusion, A content is particularly high in leaf-derived lignins at just under 70% and significantly lower in stem and mixture lignins at around 60% and almost 65%. The second most common linkage pattern is D in all isolated lignins, the proportion of which is also strongly dependent on the crop portion. Both stem and mixture lignins, have a relatively high share of approximately 20% or more (maximum is M. sinensis Sin2 with over 30%). In the leaf-derived lignins, the proportions are significantly lower on average. Stem samples should be chosen if the highest possible lignin content is desired, specifically from the M. x giganteus genotype, which revealed lignin contents up to 27%. Due to the better frost resistance and higher stem stability, M. nagara offers some advantages compared to M. x giganteus. Miscanthus crops are shown to be very attractive lignocellulose feedstock (LCF) for second generation biorefineries and lignin generation in Europe. Full article

Miscanthus x giganteus (miscanthus), a perennial biomass crop, allocates more carbon belowground and typically has lower soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional feedstock crops, but best practices for nutrient management that maximize yield while minimizing soil GHG emissions are still debated. This study evaluated the effects of four different fertilization treatments (digestate from a biodigester, synthetic fertilizer (urea), hydrochar from the hydrothermal carbonization of digestate, and a control) on soil GHG emissions and biomass yield of an established miscanthus stand grown on abandoned agricultural land. Soil GHG fluxes (including CH₄, CO₂, and N₂O) were sampled in all treatments using the static chamber methodology. Average biomass yield varied from 20.2 Mg ha⁻¹ to 23.5 Mg ha⁻¹, but there were no significant differences among the four treatments (p > 0.05). The hydrochar treatment reduced mean CO₂ emissions by 34% compared to the control treatment, but this difference was only statistically significant in one of the two sites tested. Applying digestate to miscanthus resulted in a CH₄ efflux from the soil in one of two sites, while soils treated with urea and hydrochar acted as CH₄ sinks in both sites. Overall, fertilization did not significantly improve biomass yield, but hydrochar as a soil amendment has potential for reducing soil GHG fluxes. Full article

Predictions of future climate scenarios indicate that yields from perennial biomass crops (PBCs) growing in the Mediterranean region are likely to decline due to prolonged drought. Among PBCs, Miscanthus grasses with C₄ photosynthesis combine high yield potentials and water use efficiencies. However, the standard commercial clone M. x giganteus (Mxg), with minimal stomatal regulation, is too sensitive to drought for reliable yields in the Mediterranean regions. This paper screened a diverse panel of thirteen Miscanthus genotypes (M. sinensis, M. floridulus, M. sacchariflorus and Mxg) to identify which types could maximize yield under summer drought conditions typical in the South Mediterranean climate. In the second growing season, significant differences were observed for plant height (from 63 to 185 cm), stem number (from 12 to 208 stems plant⁻¹), biomass yield (from 0.17 to 6.4 kg DM plant⁻¹) and whole crop water use efficiency (from 0.11 to 7.0 g L⁻¹). Temporal variation in net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and instantaneous water use efficiency identified different strategies adopted by genotypes, and that genotypes selected from M. floridulus and M. sinensis were better adapted to rainfed conditions and could produce six times more biomass than the Mxg. These accessions are being used as parents in experimental breeding aimed at producing future seed-based drought resilient hybrids. Full article

This article presents the results of a two-year study investigating the effects of the fertilization of soil, with biochar and ash from plant biomass, on selected properties of the pyrolysis products obtained from basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) and giant miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus). The study was designed to determine whether soil enrichment through the use of organic fertilizers (ash added at the rate of 1.5 t ha⁻¹, biochar added at the rate of 11.5 t ha⁻¹ and a combination of them) in the cultivation of energy crops would affect the quality of pyrolysates obtained from these plants. The research goal was to use biochar and biomass ash to produce high-quality pyrolysates with fertilizing potential. The aboveground parts of the plants were subjected to the pyrolysis process, which was carried out in constant conditions, i.e., a temperature of 500 °C and duration of 10 min. The pyrolysates obtained were examined for their pH value, the content of absorbable forms of phosphorus (P₂O₅), potassium (K₂O) and magnesium (Mg), as well as total carbon and the total content of selected macro- and micro-elements. The results of the current study show the beneficial effects of these soil fertilizers, reflected by the high quality and enhanced mineral contents of the biochars obtained. The highest total increase in the contents of absorbable forms of P, K and Mg was found in the pyrolysis products from basket willow fertilized with ash alone, amounting to 21.6% in relation to the pyrolysates from the control sample. As for the pyrolysates from the biomass of giant miscanthus, the greatest total increase in the contents of the elements, amounting to 44.4%, was identified when biochar and ash were used in combination. Soil amendments such as biochar and ash used for growing bioenergy crops can alter the aboveground plant quality. The subsequent pyrolysates created from these plants may be enriched and can be an alternative to mineral fertilizers. Natural amendment, such as high-quality pyrolysates, can be used in the cultivation of many plants. Additionally, conversion of plant biomass into pyrolysates is important for the environment, affecting the balance of carbon in the atmosphere through its capture and storage in a stable form outside the atmosphere, e.g., in soil. Full article