TY - JOUR
T1 - Yield performance of 14 novel inter- and intra-species Miscanthus hybrids across Europe
AU - Awty-Carroll, Danny
AU - Magenau, Elena
AU - Al Hassan, Mohamad
AU - Martani, Enrico
AU - Kontek, Mislav
AU - van der Pluijm, Philip
AU - Ashman, Chris
AU - de Maupeou, Emmanuel
AU - McCalmont, Jon
AU - Petrie, Gert-Jan
AU - Davey, Chris
AU - van der Cruijsen, Kasper
AU - Jurišić, Vanja
AU - Amaducci, Stefano
AU - Lamy, Isabelle
AU - Shepherd, Anita
AU - Kam, Jason
AU - Hoogendam, Annick
AU - Croci, Michele
AU - Dolstra, Oene
AU - Ferrarini, Andrea
AU - Lewandowski, Iris
AU - Trindade, Luisa M.
AU - Kiesel, Andreas
AU - Clifton-Brown, John Cedric
N1 - Funding information
Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking, Grant/Award Number: 745012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For additional information and data collection many thanks to Oberer Lindenhof field station staff (OLI), Unifarm workers (SCH), experimental station Šašinovec technical stuff (ZAG). The authors are grateful for the support of the staff at the research stations at PAC. With particular thanks at the Trawsgoed site (TWS) to Robin Warren, Chris Glover, and the late Kevin Roderick. Thanks also to Michael Squance for use of and assistance with the Physis™ data management platform.
FUNDING INFORMATION
The GRACE project has received funding from the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 745012. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio-based Industries Consortium.
PY - 2023/1/30
Y1 - 2023/1/30
N2 - Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass from Asia is a leading candidate for the supply of sustainable biomass needed to grow the bioeconomy. European Miscanthus breeding programmes have recently produced a new range of seeded hybrids with the objective of increasing scalability to large acreages limited by current clonal propagation. For the EU-GRACE project, new replicated field trials were established in seven locations across Europe in 2018 with eight intraspecific M. sinensis hybrids (sin × sin) and six M. sacchariflorus × M. sinensis (sac × sin) from Dutch and UK breeding programmes, respectively, with clonal Miscanthus × giganteus. The planting density of the sin × sin was double that of sac × sin (30,000 & 15,000 plants ha−1), creating commercially relevant upscaling comparisons between systems. Over the first 3 years, the establishment depended on location and hybrid. The mature sin × sin hybrids formed tight tufts of shoots up to 2.5 m tall which flower and senesce earlier than the taller sac × sin hybrids. Following the third growing season, the highest yields were recorded in Northern Italy at a low altitude (average 13.7 (max 21) Mg DM ha−1) and the lowest yielding was on the industrially damaged marginal land site in Northern France (average 7.0 (max 10) Mg DM ha−1). Moisture contents at spring harvest were lowest in Croatia (21.7%) and highest in Wales, UK (41.6%). Overall, lower moisture contents at harvest, which are highly desirable for transport, storage and for most end-use applications, were found in sin × sin hybrids than sac × sin (30% and 40%, respectively). Yield depended on climate interactions with the hybrid and their associated planting systems. The sin × sin hybrids appeared better adapted to northern Europe and sac × sin hybrids to southern Europe. Longer-term yield observations over crop lifespans will be needed to explore the biological (yield persistence) and economic costs and benefits of the different hybrid systems.
AB - Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass from Asia is a leading candidate for the supply of sustainable biomass needed to grow the bioeconomy. European Miscanthus breeding programmes have recently produced a new range of seeded hybrids with the objective of increasing scalability to large acreages limited by current clonal propagation. For the EU-GRACE project, new replicated field trials were established in seven locations across Europe in 2018 with eight intraspecific M. sinensis hybrids (sin × sin) and six M. sacchariflorus × M. sinensis (sac × sin) from Dutch and UK breeding programmes, respectively, with clonal Miscanthus × giganteus. The planting density of the sin × sin was double that of sac × sin (30,000 & 15,000 plants ha−1), creating commercially relevant upscaling comparisons between systems. Over the first 3 years, the establishment depended on location and hybrid. The mature sin × sin hybrids formed tight tufts of shoots up to 2.5 m tall which flower and senesce earlier than the taller sac × sin hybrids. Following the third growing season, the highest yields were recorded in Northern Italy at a low altitude (average 13.7 (max 21) Mg DM ha−1) and the lowest yielding was on the industrially damaged marginal land site in Northern France (average 7.0 (max 10) Mg DM ha−1). Moisture contents at spring harvest were lowest in Croatia (21.7%) and highest in Wales, UK (41.6%). Overall, lower moisture contents at harvest, which are highly desirable for transport, storage and for most end-use applications, were found in sin × sin hybrids than sac × sin (30% and 40%, respectively). Yield depended on climate interactions with the hybrid and their associated planting systems. The sin × sin hybrids appeared better adapted to northern Europe and sac × sin hybrids to southern Europe. Longer-term yield observations over crop lifespans will be needed to explore the biological (yield persistence) and economic costs and benefits of the different hybrid systems.
KW - biomass
KW - M.sinensis
KW - Miscanthus
KW - Miscanthus×giganteu
KW - Miscanthus seeded hybrids
KW - multilocation field trials
KW - perennial biomass crop
U2 - 10.1111/gcbb.13026
DO - 10.1111/gcbb.13026
M3 - Article
JO - Global Change Biology. Bioenergy
JF - Global Change Biology. Bioenergy
SN - 1757-1693
ER -
