The productivity of Miscanthus under Lithuania's climate conditions: a two-year study

摘要

Biomass cultivation for bioenergy should fulfil many economic, energy and environmental requirements. As a result, in many countries considerable attention has been drawn to agricultural plants with a potential to be used as raw material for various energy purposes. When searching for non-food plants for combustion, priority in warm and moderate climate zones is given to Miscanthus giganteus. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility to grow Miscanthus giganteus, Miscanthus sachariflorus and Miscanthus sinensis under the climatic conditions of Lithuania and to evaluate their productivity. Rhizomes and in vitro propagated plantlets from Denmark, United Kingdom, Poland and Lithuania were chosen for the establishment of the experiment. The initial findings of the experiment suggest that Miscanthus planted using the in vitro plantiets did not survive the first winter, whereas that planted by rhizome division exhibited a better cold-season resistance. Miscanthus giganteus produced higher biomass yield than Miscanthus sachariflorus.