Regional Disparities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the Context of Sustainable Growing of Energy Plants

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to evaluate regional disparities in selected countries of Central Europe (Slovakia and the Czech Republic) in the context of sustainable growing of energy plants. Targeted growing of fast-growing energy plants can ensure increasing the share of renewable energy sources and contribute to the sustainable development of regions. Regional disparities in the possibility of biomass production of energy plants in Slovakia and the Czech Republic were evaluated according to soil and climatic factor. On average, 18.71% of the regions in Slovakia and 30.59% in the Czech Republic are less suitable for the agriculture use. These soils may be exempted from the agricultural land fund and used for non-food use. The real area of currently targeted growing of energy plants is low (0.0265% of the area of agricultural land fund in Slovakia and 0.0643% in the Czech Republic). Analysis of selected climate indicators confirms regional differences. The length of the vegetation period, as limiting factor of biomass production is more favorable in Slovak regions. Production ability of selected energy plants was monitored on model plantation in Nitra region (SK023). Biomass production of energy grass Miscanthus (27.95 t.ha-1) and energy plant Populus (after the second three-year yield cycle 135.14 t.ha-1) confirmed economically threshold yield after the six years of growing.

Impact of Different Fertilization Regimes on the Biomass Production of Perennial Grass Miscanthus × Giganteus in Slovakia

“…The basic prerequisite for the efficiency of growing plants for energy purposes is the ability of the species to adapt to the region's climate. Without fertilization, Miscanthus × giganteus has produced an economically efficient above-ground biomass every year since planting in 2010 (Kotrla et al, 2017;Kotrla and Prčík, 2018). In 2016, fertilization was applied to identify the need for fertilization in relation to the growth and production of biomass of the energy grass.…”

Evaluating the Effects of Climatic Parameters on Growth and Biomass Production of <i>Miscanthus</i> in Climate Conditions of Southern Slovakia

“…The main soil unit is fluvial glue, which belongs to medium hard land according to the grain. From the point of view of the climatic regionalization of Slovakia, the research plantation belongs to the area of a warm, very dry and lowland-climatic region [15].…”