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"energy crops"
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Breeding progress and preparedness for mass‐scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar
Genetic improvement through breeding is one of the key approaches to increasing biomass supply. This paper documents the breeding progress to date for four perennial biomass crops (PBCs) that have high output–input energy ratios: namely Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), species of the genera Miscanthus (miscanthus), Salix (willow) and Populus (poplar). For each crop, we report on the size of germplasm collections, the efforts to date to phenotype and genotype, the diversity available for breeding and on the scale of breeding work as indicated by number of attempted crosses. We also report on the development of faster and more precise breeding using molecular breeding techniques. Poplar is the model tree for genetic studies and is furthest ahead in terms of biological knowledge and genetic resources. Linkage maps, transgenesis and genome editing methods are now being used in commercially focused poplar breeding. These are in development in switchgrass, miscanthus and willow generating large genetic and phenotypic data sets requiring concomitant efforts in informatics to create summaries that can be accessed and used by practical breeders. Cultivars of switchgrass and miscanthus can be seed‐based synthetic populations, semihybrids or clones. Willow and poplar cultivars are commercially deployed as clones. At local and regional level, the most advanced cultivars in each crop are at technology readiness levels which could be scaled to planting rates of thousands of hectares per year in about 5 years with existing commercial developers. Investment in further development of better cultivars is subject to current market failure and the long breeding cycles. We conclude that sustained public investment in breeding plays a key role in delivering future mass‐scale deployment of PBCs. Plant breeding links the research effort with commercial mass upscaling. The authors’ assessment of development status of the four species is shown (poplar having two: one for short rotation coppice (SRC) poplar and one for the more traditional short rotation forestry (SRF)). Mass scale deployment needs developments outside the breeding arenas to drive breeding activities more rapidly and extensively.
Journal Article
Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus
Miscanthus
is a perennial wild grass that is of global importance for paper production, roofing, horticultural plantings, and an emerging highly productive temperate biomass crop. We report a chromosome-scale assembly of the paleotetraploid
M. sinensis
genome, providing a resource for
Miscanthus
that links its chromosomes to the related diploid
Sorghum
and complex polyploid sugarcanes. The asymmetric distribution of transposons across the two homoeologous subgenomes proves
Miscanthus
paleo-allotetraploidy and identifies several balanced reciprocal homoeologous exchanges. Analysis of
M. sinensis
and
M. sacchariflorus
populations demonstrates extensive interspecific admixture and hybridization, and documents the origin of the highly productive triploid bioenergy crop
M. × giganteus
. Transcriptional profiling of leaves, stem, and rhizomes over growing seasons provides insight into rhizome development and nutrient recycling, processes critical for sustainable biomass accumulation in a perennial temperate grass. The
Miscanthus
genome expands the power of comparative genomics to understand traits of importance to Andropogoneae grasses.
The perennial grass
Miscanthus
is a promising biomass crop. Here, via genomics and transcriptomics, the authors reveal its allotetraploid origin, characterize gene expression associated with rhizome development and nutrient recycling, and describe the hybrid origin of the triploid
M. x giganteus
.
Journal Article
Soil carbon increased by twice the amount of biochar carbon applied after 6 years: Field evidence of negative priming
Applying biochar to agricultural soils has been proposed as a means of sequestering carbon (C) while simultaneously enhancing soil health and agricultural sustainability. However, our understanding of the long‐term effects of biochar and annual versus perennial cropping systems and their interactions on soil properties under field conditions is limited. We quantified changes in soil C concentration and stocks, and other soil properties 6 years after biochar applications to corn (Zea mays L.) and dedicated bioenergy crops on a Midwestern US soil. Treatments were as follows: no‐till continuous corn, Liberty switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and low‐diversity prairie grasses, 45% big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), 45% Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and 10% sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), as main plots, and wood biochar (9.3 Mg/ha with 63% total C) and no biochar applications as subplots. Biochar‐amended plots accumulated more C (14.07 Mg soil C/ha vs. 2.25 Mg soil C/ha) than non‐biochar‐amended plots in the 0–30 cm soil depth but other soil properties were not significantly affected by the biochar amendments. The total increase in C stocks in the biochar‐amended plots was nearly twice (14.07 Mg soil C/ha) the amount of C added with biochar 6 years earlier (7.25 Mg biochar C/ha), suggesting a negative priming effect of biochar on formation and/or mineralization of native soil organic C. Dedicated bioenergy crops increased soil C concentration by 79% and improved both aggregation and plant available water in the 0–5 cm soil depth. Biochar did not interact with the cropping systems. Overall, biochar has the potential to increase soil C stocks both directly and through negative priming, but, in this study, it had limited effects on other soil properties after 6 years. The total increase in C stocks in biochar‐amended plots was nearly twice the amount of C added with biochar 6 years earlier, suggesting a negative priming effect of biochar on formation and/or mineralization of native soil organic C. Biochar has the potential to increase soil C stocks both directly and through negative priming, but, in this study, it had limited effects on other soil properties after 6 years.
Journal Article
Prospects of Bioenergy Cropping Systems for A More Social-Ecologically Sound Bioeconomy
The growing bioeconomy will require a greater supply of biomass in the future for both bioenergy and bio-based products. Today, many bioenergy cropping systems (BCS) are suboptimal due to either social-ecological threats or technical limitations. In addition, the competition for land between bioenergy-crop cultivation, food-crop cultivation, and biodiversity conservation is expected to increase as a result of both continuous world population growth and expected severe climate change effects. This study investigates how BCS can become more social-ecologically sustainable in future. It brings together expert opinions from the fields of agronomy, economics, meteorology, and geography. Potential solutions to the following five main requirements for a more holistically sustainable supply of biomass are summarized: (i) bioenergy-crop cultivation should provide a beneficial social-ecological contribution, such as an increase in both biodiversity and landscape aesthetics, (ii) bioenergy crops should be cultivated on marginal agricultural land so as not to compete with food-crop production, (iii) BCS need to be resilient in the face of projected severe climate change effects, (iv) BCS should foster rural development and support the vast number of small-scale family farmers, managing about 80% of agricultural land and natural resources globally, and (v) bioenergy-crop cultivation must be planned and implemented systematically, using holistic approaches. Further research activities and policy incentives should not only consider the economic potential of bioenergy-crop cultivation, but also aspects of biodiversity, soil fertility, and climate change adaptation specific to site conditions and the given social context. This will help to adapt existing agricultural systems in a changing world and foster the development of a more social-ecologically sustainable bioeconomy.
Journal Article
Rapid in situ nutrient element distribution in plants and soils using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)
Aims
The aim of this study is to develop and test the applicability of a rapid in situ plant chemistry profiling technique to determine elemental composition of small-volume plant and soil samples obtained from a woody bioenergy crop species,
Populus trichocarpa
. Expanding the research tools available to characterize the nutrient element correlations among plant tissue types and soil depths is a critical need in the path of understanding productivity and adaptation of plants to variations in external abiotic and biotic factors and developing sustainable perennial bioenergy crops that are co-optimized for biomass valorization aboveground and carbon sequestration belowground.
Methods
Several plant root, stem, and soil samples were tested using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to evaluate the presence and distribution of nutrient elements. Samples were tested as collected and after being dried and cross sectioned to evaluate the effectiveness of using LIBS for in situ analysis on plant samples.
Results
The collected LIBS spectra show the elemental peaks were the same in both the as collected and prepared samples for roots and stems. Qualitative amounts of elements such as H, C, N, O, Li, Na, Mg, K, Ca, Fe, Al, and Si were able to be identified rapidly in raw samples.
Conclusion
Here we demonstrate suitability of LIBS in obtaining rapid, in situ, elemental distribution in plant and soil samples, utilizing only small sample volumes and minimal sample preparation. This demonstration opens up a new rapid phenotyping avenue necessary to fill the asymmetrical knowledge gaps in belowground performance of plant systems.
Journal Article
Chemistry of Fossil Fuels and Biofuels
Focusing on today's major fuel resources – ethanol, biodiesel, wood, natural gas, petroleum products and coal – this book discusses the formation, composition and properties of the fuels, and the ways in which they are processed for commercial use. It examines the origin of fuels through natural processes such as photosynthesis and the geological transformation of ancient plant material; the relationships between their composition, molecular structures and physical properties; and the various processes by which they are converted or refined into the fuel products appearing on today's market. Fundamental chemical aspects such as catalysis and the behaviour of reactive intermediates are presented and global warming and anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are also discussed. The book is ideal for graduate students in energy engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry, as well as professional scientists and engineers.
eBook
Global leaf and root transcriptome in response to cadmium reveals tolerance mechanisms in Arundo donax L
The expected increase of sustainable energy demand has shifted the attention towards bioenergy crops. Due to their know tolerance against abiotic stress and relatively low nutritional requirements, they have been proposed as election crops to be cultivated in marginal lands without disturbing the part of lands employed for agricultural purposes.
Arundo donax
L. is a promising bioenergy crop whose behaviour under water and salt stress has been recently studied at transcriptomic levels. As the anthropogenic activities produced in the last years a worrying increase of cadmium contamination worldwide, the aim of our work was to decipher the global transcriptomic response of
A. donax
leaf and root in the perspective of its cultivation in contaminated soil. In our study, RNA-seq libraries yielded a total of 416 million clean reads and 10.4 Gb per sample. De novo assembly of clean reads resulted in 378,521 transcripts and 126,668 unigenes with N50 length of 1812 bp and 1555 bp, respectively. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 5,303 deregulated transcripts (3,206 up- and 2,097 down regulated) specifically observed in the Cd-treated roots compared to Cd-treated leaves. Among them, we identified genes related to “Protein biosynthesis”, “Phytohormone action”, “Nutrient uptake”, “Cell wall organisation”, “Polyamine metabolism”, “Reactive oxygen species metabolism” and “Ion membrane transport”. Globally, our results indicate that ethylene biosynthesis and the downstream signal cascade are strongly induced by cadmium stress. In accordance to ethylene role in the interaction with the ROS generation and scavenging machinery, the transcription of several genes (NADPH oxidase 1, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, different glutathione S-transferases and catalase) devoted to cope the oxidative stress is strongly activated. Several small signal peptides belonging to
ROTUNDIFOLIA
,
CLAVATA3
, and C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE 1 (CEP) are also among the up-regulated genes in Cd-treated roots functioning as messenger molecules from root to shoot in order to communicate the stressful status to the upper part of the plants. Finally, the main finding of our work is that genes involved in cell wall remodelling and lignification are decisively up-regulated in giant reed roots. This probably represents a mechanism to avoid cadmium uptake which strongly supports the possibility to cultivate giant cane in contaminated soils in the perspective to reserve agricultural soil for food and feed crops.
Journal Article
\Biomass crops for sustainable energy in Europe: contributions to bioenergy, environment, and energy security\
By using marginal lands and enhancing biodiversity, biomass crops can significantly contribute to global energy security and climate change mitigation. European policies underscore the significance of renewable energy sources, positioning biomass crops as a focal point in achieving energy and environmental sustainability objectives. The increasing global population and excessive energy consumption have resulted in a significant energy crisis and climate change, prompting a transition towards sustainable, renewable energy sources. Biomass crops present a promising solution through the generation of bioenergy, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the enhancement of carbon sequestration. Perennial biomass crops, such as miscanthus, cup plants, and switchgrass, have gained popularity in Europe because of their high biomass yield and quality. These crops also provide ecosystem services, such as soil nutrient cycling. The utilization of biomass crops as raw materials for biofuels and phytochemicals further increases their attractiveness for both farmers and society, which are suitable for growing on marginal land with low inputs. Nonetheless, most of these crops encounter challenges from abiotic stresses, such as drought and heavy metal pollution, which can hinder their growth and productivity. Understanding the mechanisms by which biomass crops tolerate these stresses is essential for sustainable bioenergy production. This review article examines the role of biomass crops in bioenergy production, their resilience to abiotic stresses, and their potential contributions to a bio-based economy.
Journal Article