Growing miscanthus in the conditions of Western Polesie

Abstract

The results of studies on the effect of density, fertilizer and soil type on miscanthus productivity in Western Polesie are presented. It was found that the average yield of dry biomass of 15.5 t/ha was obtained on a dark gray loamy soil for a planting density of 20 pc/ha., and fertilizer application at the rate of N60Р200К200. The application of mineral fertilizers (N60Р200К200) on dark gray light-loamy and sod-podzolic sandy-sandy soil provided the highest increase in dry mass yield (up to control) of 2.9–3.4 t/ha. As the results of research have shown, the dry matter yield varies significantly under the influence of certain factors. Thus, in four years on average the highest dry matter yield was obtained on condition of planting density of 20 thousand pcs./ha and application of N60P200K200 on both dark gray light loamy soil and sod-podzolic sandy soil, 15.5 and 13.1 t/ha respectively. The lowest yields on two types of soils were obtained on condition of planting density of 10 thousand pcs./ha in the trial field without fertilizers (check) – 12.0 t/ha and 9.1 t/ha on dark gray loamy and sod-podzolic light sandy soils, respectively. The application of mineral fertilizers at the rate of N60P100K100 ensured increase in the yield by 1.8 and 2.2 t/ha of dry mass on two types of soils. Increasing the dose of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers up to 200 kg. d. r./ha contributed to an increase in the amount of dry mass to 15.0 and 10.1 t/ha compared to the trial field without fertilizers. The results of the research confirm the fact that with the increase in grain planting density and application of mineral fertilizers, the yield of miscanthus biomass increases, thus, the yield of solid fuel and energy increases as well. Consequently, the highest fuel yield of 17.1 t/ha with the energy yield of 271 GJ/ha was ensured by the application of mineral fertilizers at the rate of N60P200K200 and an increase in planting density to 20 thousand pcs./ha on dark gray light loamy soil. The lowest productivity at this density was characterized by the option without fertilizers (check) - 12.2 t/ha of dry biofuel and 194 GJ/ha of energy. Planting miscanthus plantations with the density of 15 thousand pcs./ha for four years on average reduced the yield of biofuel to 11.0 t/ha and energy to 175 GJ/ha in the trial field without fertilizers (check). However, the lowest amount of biofuel of 10.1 t/ha and energy yield of 159 GJ/ha was obtained in the trial field without fertilizers at the planting density of miscanthus of 10 thousand pcs./ha. The application of mineral fertilizers at the rate of N60P100K100 and N60P200K200 contributed to the increase of the above indices to 13.5 and 14.7 t/ha of dry biofuel and 215 and 235 GJ/ha of energy, respectively. Keywords: miscanthus, dry biomass, solid biofuels, energy, soil.