Abstract
New biomass crop hybrids for bioeconomic expansion require yield projections to determine their potential for strategic land use planning in the face of global challenges. Our biomass growth simulation incorporates radiation interception and conversion efficiency. Models often use leaf area to predict interception which is demanding to determine accurately, so instead we use low-cost rapid light interception measurements using a simple laboratory-made line ceptometer and relate the dynamics of canopy closure to thermal time, and to measurements of biomass. We apply the model to project the European biomass potentials of new market-ready hybrids for 2020–2030. Field measurements are easier to collect, the calibration is seasonally dynamic and reduces influence of weather variation between field sites. The model obtained is conservative, being calibrated by crops of varying establishment and varying maturity on less productive (marginal) land. This results in conservative projections of miscanthus hybrids for 2020–2030 based on 10% land use conversion of the least (productive) grassland and arable for farm diversification, which show a European potential of 80.7–89.7 Mt year−1 biomass, with potential for 1.2–1.3 EJ year−1 energy and 36.3–40.3 Mt year−1 carbon capture, with seeded Miscanthus sacchariflorus × sinensis displaying highest yield potential. Simulated biomass projections must be viewed in light of the field measurements on less productive land with high soil water deficits. We are attempting to model the results from an ambitious and novel project combining new hybrids across Europe with agronomy which has not been perfected on less productive sites. Nevertheless, at the time of energy sourcing issues, seed-propagated miscanthus hybrids for the upscaled provision of bioenergy offer an alternative source of renewable energy. If European countries provide incentives for growers to invest, seeded hybrids can improve product availability and biomass yields over the current commercial miscanthus variety.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 444-461 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Global Change Biology. Bioenergy |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 26 Jan 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe would like to thank the industry partner Terravesta, developers of Miscanthus throughout the UK, the Dutch company Van Dinter Semo, developers of M. sin × sin hybrids, and all collaborators and the members of the GRACE project funded by the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking, grant agreement no. 745012. The authors thank EPSRC, BBSRC and UK Supergen Bioenergy Hub (EP/S000771/1) who funded and supported this research. The work was made possible by a Supergen Bioenergy hub fellowship, funding ref. RG15855—UKRI (EPSRC) via Aston University and the survey was carried out as part of project SUMMER—seed-propagated upscaling of Miscanthus—modelling and environmental response. This work was also made possible by BBSRC funding (BB/V011553/1) for the Perennial Biomass Crops for Greenhouse Gas Removal (PBC4GGR) Demonstrator project, and was also undertaken as part of the UK Energy Research Centre research programme. Funded by the UK Research and Innovation Energy Programme under grant number EP/S029575/1.
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Keywords
- biomass
- light absorption
- light interception
- miscanthus
- sacchariflorus
- seeded hybrid
- simulation
- sinensis
Access to Document
- Shepherd_etal_GCBB_Novel_Miscanthus_Hybrids_VoR
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2023 The Authors. GCB Bioenergy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/