Abstract
Giant miscanthus is a vigorously growing energy plant, popularly used for biofuels production. It is a grass with low soil and water requirements, although its productivity largely depends on complementary irrigation, especially in the first year of cultivation. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the forecast climate changes, mainly air temperature increase, on the water needs of giant miscanthus during the growing season in 2021–2050 in the Kuyavia region (central Poland). The years 1981–2010 as the reference period were applied. The meteorological data was based on the regional climate change model RM5.1 with boundary conditions from the global ARPEGE model for the SRES A1B emission scenario. Crop evapotranspiration, calculated using the Penman-Monteith method and crop coefficients, was assumed as a measure of water needs. The study results showed that in view of the expected temperature changes, in the forecast period 2021–2050, the giant miscanthus water needs will increase by 10%. The highest monthly increase may occur in August (16%) and in September (23%). In the near future, the increase in water needs of giant miscanthus will necessitate the use of supplementary irrigation. Hence the results of this study may contribute to increasing the efficiency of water use, and thus to the rational management of irrigation treatments and plant energy resources in the Kuyavia region.
Highlights
Climate change is one of the greatest threats nowadays for the environment and various sectors of the economy
In the present research the water needs of giant miscanthus grown in the Kuyavia region situated in central Poland were determined
The current research is the first to estimate the water needs of giant miscanthus in central Poland in the years 2021–2050, taking into account the projected climate changes, mainly the rise of air temperature
Summary
Climate change is one of the greatest threats nowadays for the environment and various sectors of the economy. It is believed that an increase in mainly CO2, and other greenhouse gases, will affect current farming systems [1,2,3]. According to the European Environment Agency [2], global warming may, on the one hand, improve the conditions for growing plants in some parts of northern. But will worsen them for example in southern Europe, contributing to phenomena such as droughts and heat waves. As a consequence, it will result in worsening harvest and increasing production costs
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