Perennial biomass cropping and use: Shaping the policy ecosystem in European countries.

Demand for sustainably produced biomass is expected to increase with the need to provide renewable commodities, improve resource security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with COP26 commitments. Studies have demonstrated additional environmental benefits of using perennial biomass crops (PBCs), when produced appropriately, as a feedstock for the growing bioeconomy, including utilisation for bioenergy (with or without carbon capture and storage). PBCs can potentially contribute to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (2023-27) objectives provided they are carefully integrated into farming systems and landscapes.

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.

Expanding the market in the UK: Growers in profile and experience, benefits and drawbacks of the bioenergy crop.

To achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 as set out by the 2019 amendment to the 2008 UK Climate Change Act, a major shift towards renewable energy is needed. This includes the development of new methods along with improving and upscaling existing technologies. One example of new methods in bioenergy is developing new cultivars for electricity generation via thermal power station furnaces.

Mechanical stimulation in wheat triggers age- and dose-dependent alterations in growth, development and grain characteristics.

Background And Aims: Wheat crops are exposed to a range of mechanical stimulations in their natural environment, yet we know very little about their response to such conditions. The aim of this study was to better understand the effect of mechanical stimulation on wheat growth and development, stem mechanical properties and grain measures. We focused on the following questions: (1) Does plant age affect the response to mechanical stimulation? (2) Is there a minimum threshold for the perception of mechanical stimuli? (3) Is the effect of manual brushing different to natural wind stimulation?

Methods: For age- and dose-response experiments, wheat plants were grown under controlled glasshouse conditions with brushing treatments applied using a purpose-built rig.

Draft genome assembly of the biofuel grass crop .

(Maxim.) Hack. is a highly productive C4 perennial rhizomatous biofuel grass crop.

The Effect of Red & Blue Rich LEDs vs Fluorescent Light on Lollo Rosso Lettuce Morphology and Physiology.

The challenges of feeding an increasing population, an increasingly urban population and within an increasingly challenging global environment have focused ideas on new ways to grow food. Growing food in a controlled environment (CE) is not new but new technologies such as broad-spectrum LEDs and robotics are generating new opportunities. Growth recipes can be tailored to plant species in a CE and plasticity in plant responses to the environment may be utilized to make growth systems more efficient for improved yield and crop quality.

Producing Enhanced Yield and Nutritional Pigmentation in Lollo Rosso Through Manipulating the Irradiance, Duration, and Periodicity of LEDs in the Visible Region of Light.

Pigmented food are an important part of the human diet, and anthocyanins have demonstrable protection against tumor production in mouse models and beneficial effects on human liver chemistry. As such, producing pigmented crops is important for a nutritionally diverse diet. Lollo rosso lettuce is a fast-growing pigmented plant, is rich in phenolic compounds, and represents a suitable system to test optimization strategies for yield and anthocyanin production.

Linkage mapping evidence for a syntenic QTL associated with flowering time in perennial C rhizomatous grasses and switchgrass.

Flowering in perennial species is directed via complex signalling pathways that adjust to developmental regulations and environmental cues. Synchronized flowering in certain environments is a prerequisite to commercial seed production, and so the elucidation of the genetic architecture of flowering time in and switchgrass could aid breeding in these underdeveloped species. In this context, we assessed a mapping population in and two ecologically diverse switchgrass mapping populations over 3 years from planting.

Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus.

Miscanthus is a perennial wild grass that is of global importance for paper production, roofing, horticultural plantings, and an emerging highly productive temperate biomass crop. We report a chromosome-scale assembly of the paleotetraploid M. sinensis genome, providing a resource for Miscanthus that links its chromosomes to the related diploid Sorghum and complex polyploid sugarcanes.

Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) simulated hydrological impacts of land use change from temperate grassland to energy crops: A case study in western UK.

When considering the large-scale deployment of bioenergy crops, it is important to understand the implication for ecosystem hydrological processes and the influences of crop type and location. Based on the potential for future land use change (LUC), the 10,280 km West Wales Water Framework Directive River Basin District (UK) was selected as a typical grassland dominated district, and the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrology model with a geographic information systems interface was used to investigate implications for different bioenergy deployment scenarios. The study area was delineated into 855 sub-basins and 7,108 hydrological response units based on rivers, soil type, land use, and slope.

Measured and modelled effect of land-use change from temperate grassland to on soil carbon stocks after 12 years.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important carbon pool susceptible to land-use change (LUC). There are concerns that converting grasslands into the C bioenergy crop (to meet demands for renewable energy) could negatively impact SOC, resulting in reductions of greenhouse gas mitigation benefits gained from using as a fuel. This work addresses these concerns by sampling soils (0-30 cm) from a site 12 years (T) after conversion from marginal agricultural grassland into and four other novel hybrids.

Stem growth characteristics of high yielding correlate with yield, development and intraspecific competition within plots.

High yielding perennial grasses are utilized as biomass for the bioeconomy and to displace fossil fuels. Many such grasses, including , are largely undomesticated. The main crop is a naturally occurring hydrid ().

Soil NO emissions with different reduced tillage methods during the establishment of in temperate grassland.

An increase in renewable energy and the planting of perennial bioenergy crops is expected in order to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) targets. Nitrous oxide (NO) is a potent greenhouse gas, and this paper addresses a knowledge gap concerning soil NO emissions over the possible "hot spot" of land use conversion from established pasture to the biofuel crop . The work aims to quantify the impacts of this land use change on NO fluxes using three different cultivation methods.

Soil nitrous oxide flux following land-use reversion from Miscanthus and SRC willow to perennial ryegrass.

Decarbonization of the world's energy supply is essential to meet the targets of the 2016 Paris climate change agreement. One promising opportunity is the utilization of second generation, low input bioenergy crops such as Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willow. Research has previously been carried out on the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of growing these feedstocks and land-use changes involved in converting conventional cropland to their production; however, there is almost no body of work understanding the costs associated with their end of life transitions back to conventional crops.

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.

Collecting wild Miscanthus germplasm in Asia for crop improvement and conservation in Europe whilst adhering to the guidelines of the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity.

Background And Aims: Germplasm with diverse, agronomically relevant traits forms the foundation of a successful plant breeding programme. Since 1993, the United Nations has been advocating the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the subsequent 2002 Bonn Guidelines as international best practice on germplasm collection and use. In 2006, a European team made an expedition to Asia to collect wild germplasm of Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass, for breeding an environmentally adaptable, resilient and high-yielding bioenergy crop.

Genomic index selection provides a pragmatic framework for setting and refining multi-objective breeding targets in Miscanthus.

Background: Miscanthus has potential as a biomass crop but the development of varieties that are consistently superior to the natural hybrid M. × giganteus has been challenging, presumably because of strong G × E interactions and poor knowledge of the complex genetic architectures of traits underlying biomass productivity and climatic adaptation. While linkage and association mapping studies are starting to generate long lists of candidate regions and even individual genes, it seems unlikely that this information can be translated into effective marker-assisted selection for the needs of breeding programmes.

Consensus, uncertainties and challenges for perennial bioenergy crops and land use.

Perennial bioenergy crops have significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to climate change mitigation by substituting for fossil fuels; yet delivering significant GHG savings will require substantial land-use change, globally. Over the last decade, research has delivered improved understanding of the environmental benefits and risks of this transition to perennial bioenergy crops, addressing concerns that the impacts of land conversion to perennial bioenergy crops could result in increased rather than decreased GHG emissions. For policymakers to assess the most cost-effective and sustainable options for deployment and climate change mitigation, synthesis of these studies is needed to support evidence-based decision making.

Genetic relationships between spring emergence, canopy phenology, and biomass yield increase the accuracy of genomic prediction in Miscanthus.

Miscanthus has potential as a bioenergy crop but the rapid development of high-yielding varieties is challenging. Previous studies have suggested that phenology and canopy height are important determinants of biomass yield. Furthermore, while genome-wide prediction was effective for a broad range of traits, the predictive ability for yield was very low.

Co-production of 11α-hydroxyprogesterone and ethanol using recombinant yeast expressing fungal steroid hydroxylases.

Background: Bioethanol production from sustainable sources of biomass that limit effect on food production are needed and in a biorefinery approach co-products are desirable, obtained from both the plant material and from the microbial biomass. Fungal biotransformation of steroids was among the first industrial biotransformations allowing corticosteroid production. In this work, the potential of yeast to produce intermediates needed in corticosteroid production is demonstrated at laboratory scale following bioethanol production from perennial ryegrass juice.

Predicting future biomass yield in using the carbohydrate metabolic profile as a biomarker.

In perennial energy crop breeding programmes, it can take several years before a mature yield is reached when potential new varieties can be scored. Modern plant breeding technologies have focussed on molecular markers, but for many crop species, this technology is unavailable. Therefore, prematurity predictors of harvestable yield would accelerate the release of new varieties.

Towards combustion quality improvement: the role of flowering and senescence.

In commercially grown × , despite imposing a yield penalty, postwinter harvests improve quality criteria for thermal conversion and crop sustainability through remobilization of nutrients to the underground rhizome. We examined 16 genotypes with different flowering and senescence times for variation in N, P, K, moisture, ash, Cl and Si contents, hypothesizing that early flowering and senescence could result in improved biomass quality and/or enable an earlier harvest of biomass (in autumn at peak yield). Ideal crop characteristics at harvest are low N and P to reduce future fertilizer inputs, low K and Cl to reduce corrosion in boilers, low moisture to reduce spoilage and transportation costs, and low Si and ash to reduce slagging and consequent operational downtime.

Environmental costs and benefits of growing for bioenergy in the UK.

Planting the perennial biomass crop in the UK could offset 2-13 Mt oil eq. yr, contributing up to 10% of current energy use. Policymakers need assurance that upscaling production can be performed sustainably without negatively impacting essential food production or the wider environment.

Radiation capture and conversion efficiencies of , and their naturally occurring hybrid . × .

is a rhizomatous C4 grass of great interest as a biofuel crop because it has the potential to produce high yields over a wide geographical area with low agricultural inputs on marginal land less suitable for food production. At the moment, a clonal interspecific hybrid  ×  is the most widely cultivated and studied in Europe and the United States, but breeding programmes are developing newer more productive varieties. Here, we quantified the physiological processes relating to whole season yield in a replicated plot trial in Wales, UK.