Yield performance of fourteen novel inter- and intra-species Miscanthus hybrids across Europe

Awty‐Carroll, D ORCID: 0000-0001-5855-0775, Magenau, E ORCID: 0000-0003-3859-9402, Al Hassan, M ORCID: 0000-0002-2297-3394, Martani, E ORCID: 0000-0003-0236-0328, Kontek, M ORCID: 0000-0001-9042-5499, van der Pluijm, P, Ashman, C ORCID: 0000-0001-5736-6327, de Maupeou, E, McCalmont, J, Petrie, G, Davey, C, van der Cruijsen, K, Jurišić, V, Amaducci, S, Lamy, I, Shepherd, A ORCID: 0000-0003-1902-5147, Kam, J, Hoogendam, A, Croci, M, Dolstra, O et al (2023) Yield performance of fourteen novel inter- and intra-species Miscanthus hybrids across Europe. GCB Bioenergy. ISSN 1757-1693

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Abstract

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass from Asia is a leading candidate for the supply of sustainable biomass needed to grow the bioeconomy. European Miscanthus breeding programmes have recently produced a new range of seeded hybrids with the objective of increasing scalability to large acreages limited by current clonal propagation. For the EU-GRACE project new replicated field trials were established in seven locations across Europe in 2018 with eight intraspecific M. sinensis hybrids (sin×sin) and six M. sacchariflorus × M. sinensis (sac×sin) from Dutch and UK breeding programmes respectively with clonal Miscanthus × giganteus. The planting density of the sin×sin was double that of sac×sin (30,000 & 15,000 plants ha-1), creating commercially relevant upscaling comparisons between systems. Over the first three years, the establishment depended on location and hybrid. The mature sin×sin hybrids formed tight tufts of shoots up to 2.5 m tall which flower and senesce earlier than the taller sac×sin hybrids. Following the third growing season, the highest yields were recorded in Northern Italy at a low altitude (average 13.7 (max 21) Mg DM ha-1) and the lowest yielding was on the industrially damaged marginal land site in Northern France (average 7.0 (max 10) Mg DM ha-1). Moisture contents at spring harvest were lowest in Croatia (21.7%) and highest in Wales, UK (41.6%). Overall, lower moisture contents at harvest, which are highly desirable for transport, storage and for most end-use applications, were found in sin×sin hybrids than sac×sin (30 and 40% respectively). Yield depended on climate interactions with the hybrid and their associated planting systems. The sin×sin hybrids appeared better adapted to northern Europe and sac×sin hybrids to southern Europe. Longer-term yield observations over crop lifespans will be needed to explore the biological (yield persistence) and economic costs and benefits of the different hybrid systems.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1001 Agricultural Biotechnology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	11 December 2022
Date of first compliant Open Access:	10 January 2023
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2023 14:15
Last Modified:	05 Jul 2025 11:00
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/gcbb.13026
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18581

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