Use of elephant grass for energy production in Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ, Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Elephant grass is a tropical forage plant widely distributed throughout Brazil. It was first exclusively used in the livestock sector as cattle feed. The grass is characterized by its high productivity and photosynthetic capacity and is considered as an alternative source of renewable energy. Here, we estimated the general combining ability of the parents and specific combining ability of the hybrids based on morpho-agronomic biomass-quality traits. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with 3 replicates. The diallel was composed of 16 hybrids and 2 groups of genitors. In the diallel analysis of variance, we observed a significant difference among treatments. A significant difference was observed among genitors for dry matter production (DMP). For the general combining ability of group 1, the traits leaf blade width, DMP, height, percentage of neutral detergent fiber, percentage of hemicellulose, percentage of lignin, percentage of acid detergent fiber, and percentage of cellulose were significant. For the estimates of general combining ability of DMP, parents Porto Rico

Selection among and within full-sib families of elephant grass for energy purposes

“…This fact confirms this species diversity for biomass production. Likewise, Daher et al (2014) had observed variability among 16 hybrids concerning the same agronomic traits related to energy purposes.…”

“…The biomass quality traits were assessed at the Laboratory of Animal Science, Darcy Ribeiro State University of North Rio de Janeiro (LZO/UENF). DMP was estimated using the percentage of dry matter and the weight of tillers from individual plants, as described by Daher et al (2014). Yet the percentage of neutral detergent fiber (%NDF) was determined as described by Mertens (2002), using a filter bag Technique (Ankom TM ).…”

Qualidade da biomassa em híbridos de capim-elefante para fins energéticos

“…Para a característica %LIG, na comparação das médias, os genótipos não diferiram no 1º corte, enquanto no 2º corte, foram observadas algumas diferenças e, neste caso, os híbridos H6, H8 e o genitor P6 diferiram do híbrido H10, cuja média foi de 6,24%. Daher et al (2014) ao avaliarem a capacidade de combinação em capim-elefante por meio da análise dialélica constataram que a combinação hibrida resultante ente Vruckwona x Taiwan A-146, H6 no presente estudo, apresenta alto teor de fibras e que o genótipo P6 pode ser utilizado em programas de melhoramento cujo objetivo seja a melhoria da qualidade da biomassa em capim-elefante para fins energéticos. Ao analisar o comportamento dos genótipos nos dois cortes simultaneamente, observou-se que eles apresentaram maior teor de lignina na matéria seca do 1º corte.…”

Selecting elephant grass families and progenies to produce bioenergy through mixed models (REML/BLUP)

“…Some plants have shown potential to be used as sources of bioenergy, namely: elephant grass (Daher et al, 2014;Rocha et al, 2015;Salazar-Zeledón et al, 2015;Ghosh, 2016;Menezes et al, 2016), sugarcane (Szczerbowski et al, 2014;Bordonal et al, 2015), sorghum (Silva et al, 2016), and eucalyptus (Eufrade Junior et al, 2016). However, in contrast to elephant grass, which shows high photosynthetic efficiency with high biomass productivity potential, some of these cultures show low dry biomass production.…”