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The selection of non-food crops for bioenergy production in limiting environments is a priority for energy security and climate change mitigation. Therefore, more studies are needed on the interactions between species and environmental factors in specific sites which allows their selection for biomass production. The objective of this work is to study the impact of drought on the morpho-physiological parameters of perennial rhizomatous grasses Panicum virgatum L., Miscanthus × giganteus, and Arundo donax L. in the Mediterranean environment. Plants were grown on field and trials were carried out under support-irrigation and rainfed conditions during two consecutive years. Morpho-physiological parameters were measured in May, June and August, and dry biomass at the end of the experiment. Under rainfed conditions, A. donax presented the highest photosynthesis rate (25, 15 and 10 CO2 m−2 s−1), relative water content (85–90%), and dry biomass (~4500 g plant−1) compared with P. virgatum (20, 5 and 5 CO2 m−2 s−1, 65–85% RWC and ~1400 g plant−1) and Miscanthus (18, 4 and 0 CO2 m−2 s−1, 80–10% RWC and ~260 g plant−1). It is concluded that A. donax would be the best perennial rhizomatous grass to be used as bioenergy crop under Mediterranean conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study assessed the behavior of four clones of Arundo donax L. (giant reed) as a perennial rhizomatous grass of increasing interest due to its high biomass production and great adaptability to stress conditions. In this study, a molecular, physiological, and biomass characterization was performed in greenhouse conditions on four Mediterranean clones. The majority of physiological and biomass parameters were not significantly different between clones. However, it was possible to observe large differences in the chromosome count for the four clones. In this way, we detected different numbers of chromosomes for each clone (98 to 122), but surprisingly, no correlation was observed between their chromosome numbers and their physiological and biomass responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arundo donax L. (giant reed) is a perennial rhizomatous grass and has been identified as an important non-food biomass crop with capacity for cultivation in marginal and degraded lands where water scarcity conditions frequently occur due to climate change. This review analyzes the effect of water stress on photosynthetic capacity and biomass production in multiple giant reed ecotypes grown in different regions around the world. Furthermore, this review will attempt to explain the reason for the high photosynthetic capacity of giant reed even under changing environmental conditions as well as indicate other morphological reasons that could contribute to maintaining this high photosynthetic rate. Finally, future research in favor of selecting ecotypes with drought tolerance is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]