Evaluating the effects of climatic parameters on growth and biomass production of miscanthus in climate conditions of Southern Slovakia

Abstract

International trends in the development of the bioenergy sector are currently geared toward increasing the volume and quality of green energy, as well as its economic, energy and environmental profitability. For the cultivation of fast-growing energy plants, it is important to identify species and their hybrids that are able to effectively exploit the conditions that different climatic regions offer them in order to create as much biomass yield as possible. The physiological processes of plants such as energy exchange, photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, and water loss by transpiration are firmly linked to the air environment. Daily air temperatures and daily precipitation values from the Physicus meteorological station were used to evaluate climatic indicators. Then the values sum of active temperatures and hydrothermal coefficients were calculated. Growth dynamics and aboveground biomass production of Miscanthus were evaluated based on the percentage increment between measurements during the main vegetation period in the years under review. Multiple regression of dependence on growth parameters from SAT and HTC confirmed that microclimates of the site may affect plantations in particular by humidity conditions during the main vegetation period. Temperature conditions during the vegetation period do not affect growth dynamics.