Projects per year
Abstract
To help meet greenhouse gas mitigation targets perennial biomass crops will need to be planted at large scales and at a much greater pace over the coming decades. Miscanthus is a leading biomass crop but rapid upscaling is technically challenging due to costly and time-consuming clonal propagation. Seed-based hybrids are considered a viable route to rapid upscaling, but direct sowing has not been found feasible under temperate climate conditions due to high thermal requirements for germination and slow early plant development compared with larger seeded annuals. Seed-based plug plants, initially propagated in greenhouses, provide a suitable route to improve field establishment. Here, we describe an input optimization experiment for seeded Miscanthus plugs raised for spring planting in a naturally lit greenhouse with the following treatments: supplemental heat to maintain a minimum of 15°C, supplemental predawn light from modern LEDs at PPFD 300–400 μmol m−2 s−1, two proprietary types of compost (known as 50k and 70k), and two compost volumes (35 and 15 cm3). Our results showed that variations in all four factors had significant effects on above- and belowground biomass: (i) supplemental heat increased root-to-shoot ratio, (ii) supplemental light increased total biomass and root-to-shoot ratio, (iii) compost type affected total biomass and (iv) compost volume was positively correlated with total biomass and stem base diameter. No factor had a significant effect on axillary shoot formation. We recommend nurseries in the United Kingdom use LEDs as predawn supplemental light but no supplemental heat, compost that has both good water-holding capacity and aeration, and a larger compost volume, which provided optimized cost-plug resilience for spring-sown, seed-based Miscanthus plug production.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 624-638 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | GCB Bioenergy |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 08 Apr 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 May 2022 |
Keywords
- bioeconomy
- bioenergy
- biomass
- compost
- glasshouse propagation
- marginal land
- resilience
- seed-based hybrid
- transplants
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Dive into the research topics of 'Optimizing seed-based Miscanthus plug plant production with supplemental heat and light, compost type and volume'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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GRowing Advanced industrial Crops on marginal lands for biorEfineries - GRACE
Donnison, I. (PI)
01 Jun 2017 → 31 May 2022
Project: Externally funded research
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BBSRC Core Strategic Programme in Resilient Crops: Miscanthus
Donnison, I. (PI)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01 Apr 2017 → 31 Mar 2020
Project: Externally funded research