Abstract
Biomass is produced as a feedstock for energy generation and industrial processes from short-rotation woody crop plantations in Europe, the USA, and Canada. This study determined the impact of soil enrichment on the survival rate, productivity, energy value, and yield of three species of crops grown on poor soil in a 4-year harvest rotation based on two factors: species (willow, poplar, and black locust) and fertilization (lignin, mineral fertilization, mycorrhiza inoculation, and their combination). The highest average yield was obtained from willow, followed by poplar and black locust. The highest yield in the entire experiment was for poplar with lignin combined with mineral fertilization (10.5 odt ha−1 year−1). Using lignin combined with mineral fertilizers increased the yield by 8–14 % compared to mineral fertilizers alone for willow and poplar and nearly doubled the black locust yield. The energy value of the yield ranged from 28.6 to 176.7 GJ ha−1 year−1, respectively, for black locust grown on the control plot and for poplar grown with mineral fertilization combined with lignin.
Highlights
Biomass as feedstock for energy generation and industrial processes on short-rotation woody crop (SRWC) plantations is being produced in many countries of Europe [1,2,3,4,5], the USA, and Canada [6,7,8]
This study found considerable diversity in the productivity and energy value of the SRWC yield between species and depending on the soil enrichment methods and the interactions between these factors
It was shown that soil enrichment by using lignin, mycorrhiza, and mineral fertilization can significantly increase the productivity of SRWC species compared to control plots
Summary
Biomass as feedstock for energy generation and industrial processes on short-rotation woody crop (SRWC) plantations is being produced in many countries of Europe [1,2,3,4,5], the USA, and Canada [6,7,8]. Crops grown in the SRWC system include poplar, willow, and black locust. Poplar is grown mainly in the southern regions of Europe [9,10,11] and willow in the northern regions. Willow is grown on the largest area in Sweden—about 12,000 ha [1]. Hungary has the largest area of black locust plantations, and attempts have been made to grow it as a short-rotation crop for biomass production [13, 14]
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