Late Emergence and Rapid Growth Maximize the Plant Development of Miscanthus Clones

Abstract

To develop the perennial grass Miscanthus x giganteus as a highly productive crop for biomass production, new varieties need to be bred, and more knowledge about its growth behaviour has to be collected. Our aim was to identify an efficient function for assessing and comparing emergence date and canopy height growth (rate, duration, and final maximal height) of 21 clones of Miscanthus in Northern France. Flow cytometry made it possible to classify the clones into three clusters corresponding to 2x, 3x, and 4x ploidy levels. Three functions, 3-and 4-parameter logistic functions and Gompertz function, were tested to best describe the dynamics of crop emergence and of plant growth. The best functions were used to estimate emergence dynamics (Gompertz function), and growth dynamics (4-parameter logistic). All these traits showed a significant year, clone, and corresponding interaction effects (but not for harvest date). Species and ploidy level explained the clone and clone × year interaction effects. M. x giganteus and M. floridulus clones were among the latest to emerge, and the tallest. M. sinensis clones showed the lowest height and growth rates. Higher final canopy height was correlated to late emergence and high growth rate. These findings could help early selection of interesting clones within M. sinensis populations, in order to breed new inter-species hybrids of giganteus type.

Chilling tolerance and early vigour-related characteristics evaluated in two Miscanthus genotypes

“…Giganteus was thus higher yielding compared to Goliath in Flanders, which is consistent with the findings of Larsen et al (2013) for Denmark. The higher chilling tolerance of Giganteus is unlikely to be the only factor of its higher yield, as the genotypes also differ in their morphology: Giganteus has taller and thicker stems, which is another factor correlated with the high yield in Miscanthus (Zub et al 2012a, Robson et al 2013a, Arnoult et al 2015. Moreover, the end of Goliath's growing season occurred earlier because it flowered earlier than Giganteus, which had not even flowered every year under Flemish growth conditions.…”

“…A thorough comparison of the field performance and the physiological and growth response to chilling temperatures was carried out using one M. × giganteus clone and one M. sinensis Goliath clone. M. × giganteus was chosen because it is the most planted and studied Miscanthus genotype, while M. sinensis Goliath has been included in several field trials (Robson et al 2011, Van Hulle et al 2012, Zub et al 2012a, Larsen et al 2013 and physiological studies (Clifton-Brown and Jones 1997, Vargas et al 2002, Zub et al 2012b, Domon et al 2013, Purdy et al 2013). Similar to a report from Denmark (Larsen et al 2013), M. × giganteus was consistently higher yielding than M. sinensis Goliath in a field trial established in Melle, Belgium in 2007 (Muylle et al 2015).…”

Bioenergy Crops and Natural Enemies: Host Plant-Mediated Effects of Miscanthus on the Aphid Parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes

“…Sac, 2n=2x=38), and M. sinensis (var. Goliath, 2n=4x=76) [35], were obtained by in vitro multiplication as described by Rambaud et al [36].…”

Miscanthus Genetics and Agronomy for Bioenergy Feedstock

“…Without more plots or samples (it is indeed important for the breeder and the producer to save place and cost), one way for reducing the residual term is to take into account intra-genotypic competition effect in the statistical model [150]. As it implies observations at the plant level, intragenotypic effect assessment requires easyto-measure variables, such as the stand volume as a predictor of the aboveground biomass [150,151].…”

“…The Gompertz function was found to be the best to estimate emergence dynamics while four-parameter logistic to estimate growth dynamics [151].…”