Novel Miscanthus hybrids: Modelling productivity on marginal land in Europe using dynamics of canopy development determined by light interception.

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.

Improving field establishment and yield in seed propagated Miscanthus through manipulating plug size, sowing date and seedling age.

Biomass crops provide significant potential to substitute for fossil fuels and mitigate against climate change. It is widely acknowledged that significant scale up of biomass crops is required to help reach net zero targets. is a leading biomass crop embodying many characteristics that make it a highly sustainable source of biomass but planted area remains low.

Assessing seed priming, sowing date, and mulch film to improve the germination and survival of direct-sown in the United Kingdom.

Direct sowing of seed could lower crop establishment costs, and increase the rate of grower uptake and biomass supply for the emerging bio-economy. A replicated field trial was conducted at two contrasting UK sites: Aberystwyth (ABR) in mid-Wales and Blankney (BLK) in Lincolnshire. These sites encompass the west-east meteorological gradient in the United Kingdom where the growing season at ABR is cooler and wetter while BLK is warmer and drier.

Breeding progress and preparedness for mass-scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar.

Genetic improvement through breeding is one of the key approaches to increasing biomass supply. This paper documents the breeding progress to date for four perennial biomass crops (PBCs) that have high output-input energy ratios: namely (switchgrass), species of the genera (miscanthus), (willow) and (poplar). For each crop, we report on the size of germplasm collections, the efforts to date to phenotype and genotype, the diversity available for breeding and on the scale of breeding work as indicated by number of attempted crosses.

Economic and Environmental Assessment of Seed and Rhizome Propagated in the UK.

Growth in planted areas of for biomass in Europe has stagnated since 2010 due to technical challenges, economic barriers and environmental concerns. These limitations need to be overcome before biomass production from can expand to several million hectares. In this paper, we consider the economic and environmental effects of introducing seed based hybrids as an alternative to clonal ().

Lean Raman imaging for rapid assessment of homogeneity in pharmaceutical formulations.

Solid dispersion formulations and drug in polymer matrices are increasingly being used by the pharmaceutical industry to enhance the solubility, or bio-availability, of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The degree of solubility or bio-availability enhancement, as well as properties such as chemical stability and physical characteristics, will be dependent on the homogeneity of the drug in polymer matrix. The use of Raman spectroscopy to assess homogeneity has traditionally been limited by the time required to acquire images from a statistically representative sample area.