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Humans require more than 20 mineral elements for healthy body function. Calcium (Ca), one of the essential macromineral, is required in relatively large quantities in the diet for maintaining a sound overall health. Young children, pregnant and nursing women in marginalized and poorest regions of the world, are at highest risk of Ca malnutrition. Elderly population is another group of people most commonly affected by Ca deficiency mainly in the form of osteoporosis and osteopenia. Improved dietary intake of Ca may be the most cost-effective way to meet such deficiencies. Finger millet [ (L.) Gaertn.], a crop with inherently higher Ca content in its grain, is an excellent candidate for understanding genetic mechanisms associated with Ca accumulation in grain crops. Such knowledge will also contribute toward increasing Ca contents in other staple crops consumed on daily basis using plant-breeding (also known as biofortification) methods. However, developing Ca-biofortified finger millet to reach nutritional acceptability faces various challenges. These include identifying and translating the high grain Ca content to an adequately bioavailable form so as to have a positive impact on Ca malnutrition. In this review, we assess some recent advancements and challenges for enrichment of its Ca value and present possible inter-disciplinary prospects for advancing the actual impact of Ca-biofortified finger millet.

Questions have been raised in various fields of research about the consequences of plants with modified lignin production. As a result of their roles in nutrient cycling and plant diversity, plant–soil interactions should be a major focus of ecological studies on lignin‐modified plants. However, most studies have been decomposition studies conducted in a single soil or in sterile soil. Thus, we understand little about plant–soil interactions in living lignin‐modified plants. In lignin mutants of three different barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivars and their corresponding wild‐types associated with three different soil microbial communities, we asked: do plant–soil microbiome interactions influence the lignin content of plants?; does a mutation in lignin production alter the outcome of plant–soil microbiome interactions?; does the outcome of plant–soil microbiome interactions depend on host genotype or the presence of a mutation altering lignin production? In roots, the soil community explained 6% of the variation in lignin content, but, in shoots, the soil community explained 21% of the variation in lignin content and was the only factor influencing lignin content. Neither genotype nor mutations in lignin production explained associations with fungi. Lignin content changes in response to a plant's soil microbial community, and may be a defensive response to particular components of the soil community.

Miscanthus holds a great potential in the frame of the bioeconomy, and yield prediction can help improve Miscanthus’ logistic supply chain. Breeding programs in several countries are attempting to produce high-yielding Miscanthus hybrids better adapted to different climates and end-uses. Multispectral images acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Italy and in the UK in 2021 and 2022 were used to investigate the feasibility of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of novel Miscanthus hybrids for yield prediction and crop traits estimation. An intercalibration procedure was performed using simulated data from the PROSAIL model to link vegetation indices (VIs) derived from two different multispectral sensors. The random forest algorithm estimated with good accuracy yield traits (light interception, plant height, green leaf biomass, and standing biomass) using 15 VIs time series, and predicted yield using peak descriptors derived from these VIs time series with root mean square error of 2.3 Mg DM ha−1. The study demonstrates the potential of UAVs’ multispectral images in HTP applications and in yield prediction, providing important information needed to increase sustainable biomass production.

This study investigates the condition of commercial miscanthus fields, growers’ concerns and reasons for growing the crop and also the modelling of a realistic commercial yield. Juvenile and mature Miscanthus × giganteus crops of varying age are surveyed in growers’ fields across mid‐England. We record in‐field plant density counts and the morphology of crops of different ages. Mature crops thrive on both clay and sandy soils. Plants surveyed appear robust to drought, weeds and disease, the only vulnerability is rhizome condition when planting. Mature miscanthus planted pre‐2014 continues to develop, spreading into planting gaps and growing more tillers. In stands planted post‐2014, improved planting techniques reduce planting gaps and create a reasonably consistent planting density of 12,500 plants/ha. The main reason for growers' investment in miscanthus is not financial return, but relates to its low requirement for field operations, low maintenance cost and regeneration. This offers practical solutions for difficult field access and social acceptability near public places (related to spray operations and crop vandalism). Wildlife is abundant in these fields, largely undisturbed except for harvest. This contributes to the greening of agriculture; fields are also used for gamebird cover and educational tours. This crop is solving practical problems for growers while improving the environment. Observed yield data indicate gradual yield increase with crop age, a yield plateau but no yield decrease since 2006. In stands with low planting densities, yields plateau after 9 years. Surveyed yield data are used to parameterize the MiscanFor bioenergy model. This produces options to simulate either juvenile yields or a yield for a landscape containing different aged crops. For mature English crop yields of 12 t ha−1 year−1, second‐ and third‐year juvenile harvests average 7 t ha−1 year−1 and a surrounding 10 km by 10 km area of distributed crop age would average 9 t ha−1 year−1. Not many miscanthus grower surveys are available, with reasons for their investment and experience of grower issues, yet bioenergy is developing apace due to decarbonization requirements. We discover that miscanthus is a solution to urban boundary and inaccessibility problems, that there is a mature plant expansion despite a yield plateau, that the litter layer attracts insects and is wildlife‐rich. The crop has vulnerable rhizomes at planting and there is a subtle drought influence on yield. Modelling bioenergy capacity assumes mature crops, and most data are from research plots, we investigate how commercial yield develops and create a landscape distributed‐age yield.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely recognized tool for the assessment of the potential environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of a product or service. The environmental impact category most commonly quantified in LCAs is global warming potential, a measure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For agricultural products such as miscanthus, the creation of an inventory can be labour‐intensive and is context‐specific. This impairs the transfer of results to comparable but not necessarily similar situations. Farmers and small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises cannot easily dedicate resources for this purpose (in particular when using marginal land) and often lack the expertise to do so. Simplified LCA models could offer a promising solution to this problem. They are simplified versions of more complex models that require only a few critical parameters to calculate representative results. This study develops such a model for the computation of GHG emissions associated with commercial miscanthus cultivation. The model focuses on rhizome‐based propagation and the indirect harvesting method (cutting to swath, swathing, baling). A parametric life cycle inventory (LCI) was established and used to identify the most influential parameters by means of a global sensitivity analysis (GSA). A simplified model for calculating GHG emissions associated with miscanthus cultivation was developed by fixing input parameters with a low relevance at their median impact values. Six of 38 parameters were identified as relevant parameters: soil carbon sequestration, harvestable yield, duration of cultivation period, quantities of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer applied, and distance between field and customer. The simplified model allows practitioners an easy assessment of the GHG emissions associated with the production and supply of miscanthus. It thus provides a wider audience facilitated access to LCA knowledge and promotes its use as a management and reporting tool in bio‐based industries. Miscanthus cultivation in Europe is currently expanding. In light of GHG reduction targets, life cycle assessments become imperative. Due to the variation in biophysical conditions and management approaches, this can be time‐consuming. This study suggests a simplified model for computation of GHG emissions related to miscanthus cultivation across European condition. ​

Background The time required to analyse RNA-seq data varies considerably, due to discrete steps for computational assembly, quantification of gene expression and splicing analysis. Recent fast non-alignment tools such as Kallisto and Salmon overcome these problems, but these tools require a high quality, comprehensive reference transcripts dataset (RTD), which are rarely available in plants. Results A high-quality, non-redundant barley gene RTD and database (Barley Reference Transcripts – BaRTv1.0) has been generated. BaRTv1.0, was constructed from a range of tissues, cultivars and abiotic treatments and transcripts assembled and aligned to the barley cv. Morex reference genome (Mascher et al. Nature; 544: 427–433, 2017). Full-length cDNAs from the barley variety Haruna nijo (Matsumoto et al. Plant Physiol; 156: 20–28, 2011) determined transcript coverage, and high-resolution RT-PCR validated alternatively spliced (AS) transcripts of 86 genes in five different organs and tissue. These methods were used as benchmarks to select an optimal barley RTD. BaRTv1.0-Quantification of Alternatively Spliced Isoforms (QUASI) was also made to overcome inaccurate quantification due to variation in 5′ and 3′ UTR ends of transcripts. BaRTv1.0-QUASI was used for accurate transcript quantification of RNA-seq data of five barley organs/tissues. This analysis identified 20,972 significant differentially expressed genes, 2791 differentially alternatively spliced genes and 2768 transcripts with differential transcript usage. Conclusion A high confidence barley reference transcript dataset consisting of 60,444 genes with 177,240 transcripts has been generated. Compared to current barley transcripts, BaRTv1.0 transcripts are generally longer, have less fragmentation and improved gene models that are well supported by splice junction reads. Precise transcript quantification using BaRTv1.0 allows routine analysis of gene expression and AS.

To achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 as set out by the 2019 amendment to the 2008 UK Climate Change Act, a major shift towards renewable energy is needed. This includes the development of new methods along with improving and upscaling existing technologies. One example of new methods in bioenergy is developing new Miscanthus cultivars for electricity generation via thermal power station furnaces. Miscanthus is still relatively new compared with other agriculture practices, so market assessments and improvements are needed to reduce the barriers to entry for prospective growers. This publication provides a profile of UK Miscanthus growers and their businesses, their experiences of benefits and drawbacks of the crop, and what they see as potential barriers to entry for prospective farmers. A survey of current Miscanthus growers in England and Wales was conducted and indicated that most farmers were content with the crop and that its environmental and economic benefits were noted. However, it was evident that with a geographically limited UK market, growers wanted to see a better distribution of biomass processing stations to reduce the ongoing costs of transport. With growing demand for renewables, including bio‐energy sources, it was determined important to provide information and support for stable farming operations and to incentivise the adoption of Miscanthus. Such incentives include ongoing development of new cultivars, focussing on traits such as production potential and stressor resilience, and growers indicated preference for an annual planting grant. These developments are predicted to further improve the crop's profit margin, making it a more cost‐effective crop for farmers. Sensitively managed Miscanthus also has the potential to contribute to carbon sequestration, soil health, and aspects of farmland biodiversity. Incentivising such management in government land–based environmental schemes would offer additional income streams and help to promote environmental positive crop planting. This paper outlines the profile and experience of Miscanthus growers and development needs to upscale the UKs Miscanthus crop area in accordance with the industry requirements, to achieve the country’s net zero target by 2050. We found that current growers are satisfied with the crop, but long‐term stability is required to incentivise prospective growers. Moreover, the network of processing facilities needs to improve to reduce transport costs, and recognition of the crop’s role in reaching the UK CCC targets is needed, as well as information on the other ecological benefits it provides.

The combination of bioethanol production and carbon capture and storage technologies (BECCS) is considered an indispensable method for the achievement of the targets set by the Paris agreement. In Croatia, a first‐of‐its‐kind biorefinery project is currently underway that aims to integrate a second‐generation ethanol plant into an existing fossil refinery. The goal is to replace the fossil fuel production by second‐generation ethanol production using miscanthus. In the ethanol fermentation, CO2 is emitted in highly concentrated form and this can be directly compressed, injected and stored in exploited oil reservoirs. This study presents an assessment of the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential of miscanthus ethanol produced in combination with CCS technology, based on data from the planning process of this biorefinery project. The GHG reduction potential is evaluated as part of a full environmental life cycle assessment. This is of particular relevance as a lignocellulosic ethanol industry is currently emerging in the European Union (EU) and LCAs of BECCS systems have, so far, often omitted environmental impacts other than GHG emissions. Overall, the ethanol to be produced in this planned biorefinery project would clearly achieve the EU's global warming potential (GWP) reduction target for biofuels. Depending on the accounting approach applied for the biological carbon storage, reduction potentials between 104% and 138% relative to the fossil comparator are likely. In addition, ethanol can reduce risks to resource availability. As such, the results generated from data based on the intended biorefinery project support the two major rationales for biofuel use. However, these reductions could come at the expense of human health and ecosystem quality impacts associated with the combustion of lignin and biogas. In order to prevent potential environmental trade‐offs, it will be imperative to monitor and manage these emissions from residue combustion, as they represent significant drivers of the overall environmental impacts. The combination of bioethanol production and carbon capture and storage technologies (BECCS) is considered an indispensable method for the achievement of the targets set by the Paris agreement. In Croatia, a first‐of‐its‐kind BECCS project is currently underway. This study presents an assessment of the GHG reduction and potential environmental trade‐offs based on data from the project planning phase. The ethanol to be produced could achieve reduction potentials between 104% and 138% relative to petrol. However, these reductions could come at the expense of impacts on human health and ecosystem quality, which are often neglected in LCAs of bioenergy systems.

High‐yielding crops with C4 photosynthesis arising in tropical climates are being bred for, and increasingly grown in, temperate climates. Miscanthus, a C4 from Eastern Asia is a leading perennial biomass crop, but commercial deployment is limited by low temperatures in Northern Europe, low clonal multiplication rates and slow establishment rates requiring up to 4 years to reach mature yields. While new seeded hybrids have multiplication rates >2000, direct field sown seed has proven impractical. Protocols for safe establishment of seeded hybrids require that seedlings are raised in the glasshouse in compost filled modules (also known as ‘plugs’) which are transplanted into the field in springtime. To protect seedlings from damage from late frosts, drought and grazing and to increase temperature stimulating growth rates, plug plants were covered with oxo‐degradable plastic mulch film designed for maize. At two sites in the UK, this mulch film significantly reduced plant losses at transplanting and overwintering, increased stem heights and shoot counts, and reduced the time to mature yield from 4 to 3 years (p < 0.01). However, the breakdown products of oxo‐degradable mulch films contribute to microplastics in the soil. Therefore, further mulch film experiments were conducted with bio‐derived plastics which are bio‐degradable in soil at extruded thicknesses of 10, 18 and 30 microns. The 10 micron film combined sufficient strength for machine laying and worked as well as oxo‐degradable film on de‐risking establishment. Halving the mulch film widths covering 1 row rather than 2 reduced the amount of plastic by 25%. Commercial plug‐to‐field protocols are built on results from the plot experiments and field‐scale plantings over multiple years and locations and are ready for future upscaling of biomass production from seed‐based Miscanthus hybrids. From seed to plug to field. Seed‐based Miscanthus hybrids offer much higher multiplication rates than rhizome‐based establishment methods but require seedlings to be raised in the glasshouse in compost filled modules which are transplanted into the field in springtime. Commercial plug‐to‐field protocols utilizing plant‐based biodegradable mulch films are built on results from the plot experiments and field‐scale plantings over multiple years and locations and are ready for future upscaling of biomass production from seed‐based Miscanthus hybrids.

Miscanthus is a fast-growing perennial grass that attracts significant attention for its potential application as a feedstock for bioethanol production. This report explores the difference in the lignocellulosic composition of various Miscanthus cultivars, including Miscanthus × giganteus cultivated at the same location (mainly Lincoln, UK). It also assesses the sugar release profiles and mineral composition profiles of five Miscanthus cultivars harvested over a growing period from November 2018 to February 2019. The results showed that Miscanthus × giganteus contains approximately 45.5% cellulose, 29.2% hemicellulose and 23.8% lignin (dry weight, w/w). Other cultivars of Miscanthus also contain high quantities of carbohydrates (cellulose 41.1–46.0%, hemicellulose 24.3–32.6% and lignin 21.4–24.9%). Pre-treatment of Miscanthus using dilute acid followed by enzymatic hydrolysis released 63.7–80.2% of the theoretical glucose content. Fermentation of a hydrolysate of Miscanthus × giganteus using Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC2592 produced 13.58 ± 1.11 g/L of ethanol from 35.13 ± 0.46 g/L of glucose, corresponding to a yield of 0.148 g/g dry weight Miscanthus biomass. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of raw and hydrolysed Miscanthus samples, which provided visual proof of Miscanthus lignocellulose degradation in these processes. The sugar release profile showed that a consequence of Miscanthus plant growth is an increase in difficulty in releasing monosaccharides from the biomass. The potassium, magnesium, sodium, sulphur and phosphorus contents in various Miscanthus cultivars were analysed. The results revealed that these elements were slowly lost from the plants during the latter part of the growing season, for a specific cultivar, until February 2019.