The Investigation of Three Potential Energy Crops: Common Mugwort, Cup Plant and Virginia Mallow on Western Lithuania’s Albeluvisol

Abstract

Abstract. Research on novel energy crops -common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.), cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) and Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita Rusby) was set up on a naturally acid Albeluvisol in West Lithuania. The study was aimed to evaluate the effect of year (growing conditions), liming and nitrogen fertilization on biomass yield, its structure as well as lime and nitrogen use efficiency. In many cases, year (or growing conditions) and N fertilization were two determinant factors for all studied parameters (number of stems per plant, stem height, fresh (FM) and dry mass (DM) yield). Liming material had the biggest impact on the number of stems, stem height and biomass yield of Virginia mallow and less obvious for other two species. Among three crops, the highest productivity was recorded for cup plant in the 3 rd harvest year -the average FM yield was 45.20 t ha -1 and that of DM -13.45 t ha -1 . The highest lime use efficiency (LUE) values for all three crops obtained in the 2 nd year of growing. The highest nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was obtained in the 1 st (for common mugwort -30.71) and 2 nd year of growing (for cup plant and Virginia mallow -59.69 and 46.17, respectively).

Two Novel Energy Crops: Sida hermaphrodita (L.) Rusby and Silphium perfoliatum L.—State of Knowledge

“…Although combine/forage harvesters are the most common harvesting equipment, alternatives are often used. Examples of machinery used to harvest S. hermaphrodita are: forage harvesters in combination with drum choppers or balers [19,66], self-propelled harvesters [67], mowers [22,30], or cutters [33].…”

“…Some authors recommend splitting the application of nitrogen into two equal doses to maximize nitrogen use efficiency. The suggested timing is generally just before growth starts and then just before canopy closure in July [7,22,31,33] or more specifically at BBCH 11 [35]. Analysis of the macro-element composition of S. hermaphrodita showed a nitrogen content in the harvested stems of 7.9-12.8 g N DM kg −1 , which is the same order of magnitude as nitrogen found in the stems and branches of poplar SRC (Table 3).…”

“…In Austria, in a comparison of 13,300, 17,700, and 26,600 seedlings ha −1 , von Gehren et al [32] recommended applying the middle density due to similar yields and reduced costs. Šiaudinis et al [22,33], Stolarski et al [34] and Feledyn-Szewczyk et al [30] used a seedling density of 20,000 seedlings ha −1 , equivalent to a spacing of 1.0 m × 0.5 m, and Jablonowski et al [17] used a spacing of 0.75 m × 0.5 m (27,000 seedlings ha −1 ). Borkowska and Molas [7] and Franzaring et al [28] planted seedlings at a density of 40,000-40,800 seedlings ha −1 , and a density of 44,000 seedlings ha −1 was used in the five field trials across Europe as part of the SidaTim project [35,36].…”

Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita (L.) Rusby) as perennial multipurpose crop: biomass yields, energetic valorization, utilization potentials, and management perspectives

“…This effect seems to be due to an increase in shoot height, shoot diameter, and number of shoots per square meter (Borkowska et al ., ). Positive responses to NPK fertilization as well as to liming were observed from Sida grown on acidic soil in Lithuania (Siaudinis et al ., , ). Still, the biomass yields of Sida remained rather low in these studies even on the fertilized plots, and their average amounted to 6.6 t air‐dry mass across all treatments for three years of growth.…”

Dynamic Monitoring Method of Forest Coverage Based on GIS Technology

“…At the same time, it is conducive to revitalizing and utilizing the original historical data, promoting the coconstruction and sharing of resources and environmental data, standardizing the release and exchange of forestry information, and laying the foundation for "digital forestry".Through theoretical analysis and experimental research, it is found that the dynamic monitoring method of forest coverage based on GIS proposed in this paper has the advantages of technical feasibility, management feasibility and basic feasibility. At present, the county (city), region (city, autonomous prefecture) and autonomous region governments at all levels have forestry authorities, the forestry authorities in autonomous region and parts of the region have established forest cover management or monitoring institutions, and the forestry stations network of towns (farms, pastures) below the county level is sound, which creates a management innovation for the dynamic monitoring system of forest cover(Siaudinis et al 2017). Conditions have been established, and the forestry departments at all levels can form a management system for dynamic monitoring of forest coverage by slightly adjusting their original internal institutions.…”