11 research outputs found
Seasonal dynamics of dry matter accumulation and nutrients in a mature miscanthus Ć giganteus stand in the lower silesia region of poland
Funding: J.C.B. and P.R.H.R. were funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council strategic programme grant on Resilient Crops (BBS/E/W/10963A01).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Economic and environmental assessment of seed and rhizome propagated Miscanthus in the UK
Growth in planted areas of Miscanthus for biomass in Europe has stagnated since 2010 due to technical challenges, economic barriers and environmental concerns. These limitations need to be overcome before biomass production from Miscanthus can expand to several million hectares. In this paper we consider the economic and environmental effects of introducing seed based hybrids as an alternative to clonal M. x giganteus (Mxg). The impact of seed based propagation and novel agronomy was compared with current Mxg cultivation and used in ten commercially relevant, field scale experiments planted between 2012 and 2014 in the UK, Germany and Ukraine. Economic and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions costs were quantified for the following production chain: propagation, establishment, harvest, transportation, storage and fuel preparation (excluding soil carbon changes). The production and utilisation efficiency of seed and rhizome propagation were compared. Results show that new hybrid seed propagation significantly reduces establishment cost to below ?900 ha-1. Calculated GHG emission costs for the seeds established via plugs, though relatively small, was higher than rhizomes because fossil fuels were assumed to heat glasshouses for raising seedling plugs (5.3 and 1.5 kg CO2 eq. C Mg (dry matter (DM))-1), respectively. Plastic mulch film reduced establishment time, improving crop economics. The breakeven yield was calculated to be 6 Mg DM ha-1 y-1, which is about half average UK yield for Mxg; with newer seeded hybrids reaching 16 Mg DM ha-1 in second year UK trials. These combined improvements will significantly increase crop profitability. The trade-offs between costs of production for the preparation of different feedstock formats show that bales are the best option for direct firing with the lowest transport costs (?0.04 Mg -1 km-1) and easy on-farm storage. However if pelleted fuel is required then chip harvesting is more economic. We show how current seed based propagation methods can increase the rate at which Miscanthus can be scaled up; ~x100 those of current rhizome propagation. These rapid ramp rates for biomass production are required to deliver a scalable and economic Miscanthus biomass fuel whose GHG emissions are ~1/20th those of natural gas per unit of heatpublishersversionPeer reviewe
Extending Miscanthus cultivation with novel germplasm at six contrasting sites
The OPTIMISC project received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. 289159.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Breeding progress and preparedness for massāscale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar
UK: The UKāled miscanthus research and breeding was mainly supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the BBSRC CSP strategic funding grant BB/CSP1730/1, Innovate UK/BBSRC āMUSTā BB/N016149/1, CERES Inc. and Terravesta Ltd. through the GIANTāLINK project (LK0863). Genomic selection and genomewide association study activities were supported by BBSRC grant BB/K01711X/1, the BBSRC strategic programme grant on Energy Grasses & Bioārefining BBS/E/W/10963A01. The UKāled willow R&D work reported here was supported by BBSRC (BBS/E/C/00005199, BBS/E/C/00005201, BB/G016216/1, BB/E006833/1, BB/G00580X/1 and BBS/E/C/000I0410), Defra (NF0424) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (B/W6/00599/00/00). IT: The Brain Gain Program (Rientro dei cervelli) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research supports Antoine Harfouche. US: Contributions by Gerald Tuskan to this manuscript were supported by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, a US Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the DOE Office of Science, under contract number DEāAC05ā00OR22725. Willow breeding efforts at Cornell University have been supported by grants from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Contributions by the University of Illinois were supported primarily by the DOE Office of Science; Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER); grant nos. DEāSC0006634, DEāSC0012379 and DEāSC0018420 (Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation); and the Energy Biosciences Institute. EU: We would like to further acknowledge contributions from the EU projects āOPTIMISCā FP7ā289159 on miscanthus and āWATBIOā FP7ā311929 on poplar and miscanthus as well as āGRACEā H2020āEU.3.2.6. Bioābased Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBIāJTI) Project ID 745012 on miscanthus.Peer reviewedPostprintPublisher PD
A review of planting principles to identify the right place for the right tree for ānet zero plusā woodlands : Applying a place-based natural capital framework for Sustainable, Efficient and Equitable (SEE) decisions
Acknowledgements: This paper is in part supported by the NetZeroPlus (NZ+) grant funded by UKRI-BBSRC award BB/V011588/1 and also by the Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics. Turing-HSBC-ONS Economic Data Science Award āLearning Tools for Land Use Analysis and Decision Support Utilising Earth Observation, Natural Capital and Economic Data. [Corrections added on 19 May 2022, after first online publication: additional funding information has been added.]Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A review of planting principles to identify the right place for the right tree for ānet zero plusā woodlands: Applying a placeābased natural capital framework for sustainable, efficient and equitable (SEE) decisions
We outline the principles of the natural capital approach to decision making and apply these to the contemporary challenge of very significantly expanding woodlands as contribution to attaining net zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Drawing on the case of the UK, we argue that a single focus upon carbon storage alone is likely to overlook the other ānet zero plusā benefits which woodlands can deliver. A review of the literature considers the wide variety of potential benefits which woodlands can provide, together with costs such as foregone alternative land uses. We argue that decision making must consider all of these potential benefits and costs for the right locations to be planted with the right trees. The paper closes by reviewing the decision support systems necessary to incorporate this information into policy and decision making