Abstract
In view of the current global energy landscape, to develop alternative energy mechanisms to the oil has become essential. For that, biomass as well as the use of elephant-grass present themselves as attractive choices for energy purposes. That culture has a high growth prospect, as it contains characteristics such as high production, biomass quality, and high photosynthetic capacity. The purpose of this work was to assess the response of eight elephant-grass genotypes to nitrogen and potassium fertilization from the evaluation of morpho-agronomic traits. It was used a randomized block experimental design with three replications in the factorial scheme within a subdivided plot composed of principal factor (plots): genotypes and secondary components (subplots): potassium (2 levels) × nitrogen (3 levels)—200 × 400, 200 × 1000, 200 × 1600, 500 × 400, 500 × 1000, and 500 × 1600 kg ha-1. There was an adjustment of first degree linear model of the regression for all traits in at least one genotype. For DMP, the Capim Cana D’África, CPAC, and IJ 7139 genotypes indicated an inversely proportional response to the increasing of N in the fertilization. The response according to the N increasing in the fertilization was directly proportional for the CPAC genotype in relation to the NP, and for the Cana D’África, CPAC, and IJ 7139 genotypes in relation to the ALT. For SD, the CPAC and Vruckwona genotypes showed a positive effect on the increasing doses of N, and the IJ 7139 genotype, a negative correlation. The results are quite promising and ensure the use of the eight elephant-grass genotypes as an alternative source for biomass production.
Highlights
The use of vegetal biomass to produce energy has been of great interest to the researchers, as it is an excellent alternative to the excessive burning of fossil fuels, to combat climate changes and environmental imbalances generated by the high rate of greenhouse gas emissions during the burning
The elephant-grass has stood out as one of the main species to produce biomass for energy purposes (Morais, Quesada, Reis, Urquiaga, Alves, & Boddey, 2011), as it produces large amount of biomass and quality to turn it into bioenergy
The purpose of this work is to assess the effect of different doses of nitrogen and potassium fertilization in morpho-agronomic traits of elephant-grass genotypes in edaphoclimatic conditions in Campos dos Goytacazes city, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil
Summary
The use of vegetal biomass to produce energy has been of great interest to the researchers, as it is an excellent alternative to the excessive burning of fossil fuels, to combat climate changes and environmental imbalances generated by the high rate of greenhouse gas emissions during the burning. The elephant-grass has stood out as one of the main species to produce biomass for energy purposes (Morais, Quesada, Reis, Urquiaga, Alves, & Boddey, 2011), as it produces large amount of biomass and quality to turn it into bioenergy. Those traits when associated to others, such as fiber contents, lignin, and to the relation C:N make this culture an excellent alternative energy source (Mohammed et al, 2015). That is because of its shorter development cycle and its capacity to produce double tones of dry biomass per hectare yearly, when compared to the Eucalyptus, which is the main source used to generate energy by direct combustion (Mckendry, 2002; Marafon, Camara, Santiago, & Rangel, 2010).
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