Title:
Switchgrass - A Valuable Perennial Grass for Europe for Both Marginal and Agricultural Lands
Author(s):
Alexopoulou, E., Papatheohari, Y., Christou, M., Soldatos, Y., Soldatos, P.
Document(s):
Paper
Slide presentation
Abstract:
Switchgrass is a perennial grass that can be cultivated successfully in most of the climatic areas of Europe. In this work the yields of several switchgrass varieties (upland and lowland ones) were compared under three nitrogen fertilization rates (0, 75 and 150 kg N/ha) in a marginal area in central Greece (1998-2012). Additionally, the effect of row spacing and variety effect on switchgrass fields is being tested in a typical agricultural area. It was found that yields for all varieties maximized in the second and the third growing year, while from the fourth year the yields were reduced and remain almost stable until the 15th year of their cultivation. In all years the lowland varieties were the ones that gave higher dry matter yields compared to the upland varieties. Averaged over all years the dry matter yields of the lowland varieties were 13 % higher that the corresponding yields of the upland varieties. Switchgrass can be successfully cultivated in Greece even in marginal land and can produce 12 t/ha (as harvested with 20% moisture content) under zero nitrogen fertilization and moderate irrigation. When the nitrogen fertilization was 75 kg N/ha the mean yields were 15.1 t/ha and were further increased to 18.2 t/ha when the nitrogen fertilization was 150 kg N/ha.
Keywords:
switchgrass, dry matter yields, lowland and upland varieties, marginal land, perennial grasses
Topic:
Biomass resources
Subtopic:
Energy crops and energy grasses
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
1CO.9.2
Pages:
151 - 154
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-1CO.9.2
Price:
FREE
