Studying the Physiological Reactions of C 4 Grasses in Order to Select Them for Cultivation on Marginal Lands

Aleksandra Steinhoff-Wrześniewska, Piotr Dąbrowski, Anna Paszkiewicz-Jasińska, Barbara Wróbel, Maria Strzelczyk, Marek Helis and Mohamed Hazem Kalaji
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Aleksandra Steinhoff-Wrześniewska: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Piotr Dąbrowski: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Anna Paszkiewicz-Jasińska: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Barbara Wróbel: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Maria Strzelczyk: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Marek Helis: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Mohamed Hazem Kalaji: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences–National Research Institute Falenty, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: One of the problems of sustainable agricultural land management (SALM) is the competition between food production and biomass production. For this reason, marginal lands with unfavorable agrotechnical conditions have been proposed for non-food crops in recent years. To this end, a better understanding of the impact of environmental factors on crop development and yield is needed. The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of soil water availability on selected morphological, physiological and growth characteristics of four C 4 grass species ( Miscanthus × giganteus , Miscanthus sacchariflorus , Miscanthus sinensis and Spartina pectinate ) growing under different water and fertilizer conditions. A pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions with four grass species, three different water rates (100, 85 and 70%) and three fertilizer rates (270, 180 and 90 kg NPK ha −1 ). The study showed that water stress, regardless of plant species, increased the chlorophyll content index without affecting the photosynthetic efficiency of the plants. Water stress significantly decreased plant fresh and dry mass, shoot number and length, and shoot/leaf ratio. The response to water deficit depended on the plant species. Miscanthus sinensis was the most sensitive to water deficit and Spartina pectinate the most tolerant (reduction in dry mass of 41.5% and 18%, respectively). Water stress (85% and 70%) reduced the number and the length of shoots without affecting the average diameter of shoots of the tested grasses, resulting in a significant reduction in biomass production of plants grown under optimal conditions with mineral NPK fertilization (180 kg NPK ha −1 ). Miscanthus sacchariflorus showed the highest dry matter under the worst growing conditions (70% and 90 NPK) and therefore could be recommended for cultivation on marginal lands with unfavorable agrotechnical conditions. It should be emphasized that the high yield of this species was not due to the photosynthetic efficiency, but better growth stem parameters (length and number). It appears that, for long-term agricultural land management, it is preferable to determine fertilizer rates for each crop species based on soil water availability. It should also be emphasized that increasing the yield of potential lignocellulosic crops for energy purposes while reducing environmental impact appears to be one of the viable answers to the difficulties of conventional energy production.

Keywords: perennial grasses; chlorophyll content; chlorophyll fluorescence; water stress; morphological parameters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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