Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Conference poster2013

Reed canary grass and grass ley as bio-energy crops on peat soils

Berglund, Örjan; Berglund, Kerstin

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate whether reed canary grass is a better option than grass ley in the production of substrates for biogas reactors. Reed canary grass can withstand a higher groundwater level while maintaining a high production and competes well for the nitrogen in the soil. Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and N2O) and yield of ley and reed canary grass grown with different drainage intensities were compared on a fen peat soil located on the farm Majnegården outside Falköping, Sweden (58.12371N 13.5378E) The field trial was conducted during 2011 and 2012. 8 plots of reed canary grass and 8 plots of ley were established. GHG emissions were measured with the dark chamber method. Yield was measured by cutting, drying and weighing the crop from 1 square meter and the dry matter was analyzed for nitrogen content. The different drainage intensities did not result in significantly different water content in the upper part of the soil. Reed canary grass had a higher dry matter yield (11.1 and 12.2 ton for 2011 and 2012 respectively) than ley (8.3 and 7.0 ton for 2011 and 2012 respectively) with a corresponding uptake of nitrogen of 201 kg/ha compared to 155 kg/ha for ley. CO2 emissions varied between 421 and 2600 mg CO2/m2/h from the ley (average 1370) and 120 and 2882 mg CO2/m2/h for the reed canary grass (average 1470). The N2O emissions were very erratic. The highest emissions were from ley between the drainage tiles in October 2011 (1983 µg/m2/h). Both the yield and the total nitrogen uptake were higher by the reed canary grass, while there was no significant difference in GHG emissions between the crops. Overall, this indicates that reed canary grass is a suitable bio energy crop on peat soils.

Keywords

peat; reed canary grass; CO2; N2O; GHG emission

Published in

Title: Reed as a renewable resource: Book of Abstracts
Publisher: Ernst Moritz Arndt Universität Greifswald

Conference

International Conference on the Utilization of Emergent Wetland Plants: Reed as Reed as a renewable resource