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In this paper the suitability of three perennial, herbaceous, lignocellulosic grasses ( Arundo donax , Saccharum spontaneous spp. aegyptiacum and Miscanthus x giganteus ) for the production of second-generation bioethanol in semi-arid Mediterranean environment was studied. Crops were established in spring 2002, supplying irrigation and nitrogen fertilization up to 2004/2005 growing season. Subsequently, crops were grown without any agronomic input and harvested annually. Data reported in this paper refers to 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 growing seasons. Aboveground dry matter (DM) yield was higher in Arundo (35.4±2.1 Mg ha –1 in 2009 and 32.2±1.9 Mg ha –1 in 2010 harvest) than in Saccharum (27.3±2.0 and 23.9±1.9 Mg ha –1 , respectively) and Miscanthus (19.6±2.8 and 17.2±1.6 Mg ha –1 , respectively). Structural polysaccharides of the raw material were higher in Miscanthus (63.4% w/w) followed by Saccharum (61.5% w/w) and Arundo (57.6% w/w). The same trend was identified for the cellulose content (41.0%, 36.8% and 34.6%, respectively). The highest values in the total hemicellulose complex were observed in Saccharum (24.7%), followed by Arundo (23.1%) and Miscanthus (22.4%). The composition of structural polysaccharides leads to a higher theoretical ethanol yield (TEY) from one dry ton of Miscanthus feedstock (kg DM Mg –1 ), followed by Saccharum and Arundo . On the other hand, the TEY per unit surface (Mg ha –1 ) was greater in Arundo than in Saccharum and Miscanthus . When compared to other lignocellulosic sources used in the second-generation bioethanol technology, such as agricultural residues, woody species and other herbaceous perennial crops, Arundo , Saccharum and Miscanthus showed a great potential in terms of TEY ha –1 . Given the high levels of biomass yield and composition of structural polysaccharides, the three species might be introduced into the Mediterranean cropping systems to supply lignocellulosic biomass for second-generation industrial plants or bio-refineries.

In the frame of OPTIMA project (Optimization of Perennial Grasses for Biomass production, 289642) four perennial grass species (Saccharum spontaneum spp. aegyptiacum, Sorghum halepense, Oryzopsis miliacea and Cimbopogon hirtus) were established at the Experimental Field of Catania University (Catania plain, 10 m a.s.l., 37°27'N, 15°03'E) in spring 2010 in a Mediterranean environment. Gas exchange measurements, using a gas exchange chamber (LICOR 6400 system, LI-COR Bioscience), have been carried out in the dry season between spring and summer 2012, therefore before the water stress (May), during water stress (June-July) and severe water stress (August), respectively, while productive measurements in winter 2011 and 2012. A long term plantation of giant reed managed in the same condition and grown in the same experimental field has been used as reference crop. Giant reed has been chosen as the reference crop since something is already known about this species regarding physiological traits in south Mediterranean environments. During the measurement time (May, June, July and August) the air temperature, relative humidity, intercepted PAR and soil moisture at 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm were recorded. Cymbopogon and Oryzopsis behaved differently respect to giant reed, even though a decrease in net photosynthesis was observed from May to August. Before the water stress those two species reached 10 µmol CO2 m­ 2 -1-2 -1 s , while only 5 µmol CO2 m s during the severe water stress condition. Saccharum and Sorghum showed, instead, the same trend of the reference crop during the measurement time. Saccharum reached the highest value -2 -1 before the water stress (24-26 µmol CO2 m s ), while it was about two unit value lower than both Sorghum and -2 -1 giant reed during severe water stress (16 vs 14.5 µmol CO2 m s ). It is worth to mention that during the measurement of July and August the leaf temperature was close to 41 °C. Saccharum was the significantly highest yielding species both at the first and second year (9.8 and 18 t DM ha-1, respectively), while Sorghum, Cymbopogon and Oryzopsis were all not significantly different both at first and second year harvest (2.7 and 5.5 for Sorghum, 2.6 and 4.0 for Cymbopogon, 3.5 and 3.6 t DM ha-1 for Oryzopsis). These results show that there are significant differences among the wild perennial grasses both in terms of physiological and productive characters. Water and severe water stress lead to a reduced gas exchange of water transpired to the CO2 uptaken. Further studies need to be carried out to understand physiological mechanism of these new species., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 326-329

Bioenergy crops are expected to play an important role in reducing CO2 emission, in energy supply and in European energy policy. However, a sustainable bioenergy supply must be resilient to climate change and the impacts on agriculture at both global and regional scale. The purpose of this study was to forecast the potential distribution of several bioenergy crops based on agronomic and environmental constrains under current conditions and future scenarios (2020 and 2030) in European Union. Potential biomass yield, according to the category end use product achievable in each environmental zone of Europe at present and in the future available land have been also studied. Future yields were assessed according to two factors: technological development and climate change: the former was based on prospect of DG-Agriculture for conventional crops and expert judgments for bioenergy crops, while the latter based on relevant research papers and literature reviews which used site-specific crop growth models. Yields are expected to increase in northern Europe due to climate change and technological development, while in southerneastern Europe the negative effect of climate change will be mitigated by the technological development. The estimated total biomass production in Europe, on the basis of future yields and surplus land made available for energy crops, may not be sufficient to meet the needs of bioenergy supply as claimed in the European directive 2009/28/EC.

Perennial grasses considered as ideal feedstock for biobased products and bioenergy production. During the last two decades several grasses have been tested at european level in the framework of research projects. According to 4FCROPS project the most importnat perennial crops for Europe are: miscanthus, reed canary grasses, switchgrass, giant reed and cardoon. Two of them (reed canary grass and miscanthus) cultivated in a commercial scale with a total area of cultivation 29500 ha. Miscanthus and giant reed established by using rhizomes or plantlets, while all the other established by seed. Their lifetime is 15 years, while for cardoon it is reporting that its rotation cycle last 4 to 5 years. In 4FCROPS the yields of these crops as well as the raw material characteristics based on the findings of the main research projects that have been carried out in Europe the last two decades. Addionally, the economic viability of these crops were investigated though the developing of several economic case studies for specific sites in EU27 when the crops cultivated in both agricultural and marginal lands as well as with low an high inputs. In the same project the environmental impact analysis of the five selected perennial crops with annual energy crops and conventional crops potato showed that the perennial crops had lower impact compared to the annual ones and the conventional crops. Currently, the perennial grasses are being investigated in three research projects entitled: OPTIMA, OPTIMISC GRASSMARGIN and EUROBIOREF., Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 201-206

The influence of transplanting time of Arundo donax L. in relation to vegetative clone plant propagation systems was studied for two subsequent growing seasons (2008-2011) at the Experimental farm of Catania University (Italy). A factorial experiment was carried out combining three times of transplanting (November 5th 2008, March 17th 2009, April 30th 2009), two clone propagation methods (rhizome cuttings and stem cuttings) at two soil water availability (irrigation only at the transplanting dates and irrigation from transplanting dates to end of summer). At each transplanting dates 23 mm of water were applied; in the irrigated treatment, from May to end of August, other 250.0 mm of water were applied. The time span between planting to emergence of the first stems has been 168 days (first planting dates), 41 days and 24 days for second and third planting dates respectively. Stem cuttings have shown a good plant establishment in the first and second planting dates; furthermore in all planting dates showed a positive effect on planting density due to supplementary irrigation whereas rhizomes did not. On the contrary rhizomes have a good establishment in the second and third planting dates. Generally speaking the second planting dates was the best for all propagation methods., Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 527-530

As different sectors – food, feed, fiber, and fuels – compete for land, the yielding potential of the future non­food crops has to be as efficient as possible in order to minimize the competition for land. The main objective of 4F CROPS project was to survey and analyze all the parameters that play an important role in successful non­food cropping systems in the agriculture of EU27 alongside the existing food crop systems. The work started with the prediction of the future land use in short term (2020) and long term (2030), taking under consideration restrict factors for agriculture and the market were determined. This group of non­food crops was subjected to a comparative cost analysis with conventional crops for the same time framework. Socio­economic impacts, like farmers’ income, rural development, public development, and public acceptance were analyzed. Then environmental implications were assessed compared to their respective conventional products (fossil energy, conversional materials). Several environmental impacts were assessed like soil quality and soil erosion, air quality and climate change, water issues, biodiversity and landscape by using LCA and EIE methods. The regulatory framework of the non­food crops were considered including existing policies, co­existence and safety measures when the crops used for both food and non­food crops. The collected information was used for the formation of scenarios for the successful non­food cropping alongside food cropping systems answering whether a completive bioeconomy is a viable option for EU27., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 253-259

The influence of transplanting time of Arundo donax L. in relation to vegetative clone plant propagation systems was studied in 2009 at the Experimental farm of Catania University (Italy). A factorial experiment was carried out combining three times of transplanting (November 5th 2008, March 17th 2009, April 30th 2009), three clone propagation methods (rhizome cuttings, horizontal stem cuttings and vertical stem cuttings ) at two soil water availability (irrigation only at the planting dates and irrigation from planting dates to end of summer). At each planting dates 23 mm of water were applied; in the irrigated treatment, from May to end of August, other 250.0 mm of water were applied. The time span between planting to emergence of the first stems has been 172.8 days (first planting dates), 50.3 days and 40.1 days for second and third planting dates respectively. Horizontal stem cuttings produced the significantly highest stem density (4.2 stem m-2); horizontal stems have shown, in all planting dates, a positive effect on planting density due to supplementary irrigation whereas rhizomes and vertical stems did not. Generally speaking the second planting dates was the best for all propagation methods. Horizontal stems have shown a good plant establishment in the first and second planting dates; on the contrary rhizomes in the second and third while vertical stems have shown the worst establishment rate., Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 522-525

The stem cuttings of giant reed crop with a certain number of dormant viable buds are suitable to produce new plants (by growth of node shoots and development of adventitious roots); preliminary studies show that the uses of stem cuttings is less expensive than rhizome cuttings. However in the semi-arid Mediterranean environment the soil water content can be a limiting factor. Bearing this is mind, an experimental research was carried out in spring-summer 2009, in the Catania plain (Southern Italy) to compare sprouting rate of giant reed cuttings from basal (BS), median (MS), apical (AS) area and a mix (XS) of them, in two soil water conditions: Irrigated (100% ETm restoration from transplant to end of dry summer season, 267.5 mm); Rainfed (irrigation only at the planting date, 17.5 mm ). The results indicate that the number of sprouted nodes at the end of August were 0.7 nodes m-2 (11.53% of the buried nodes), without any difference between part of the stems while in percentage of buried nodes, significantly higher in BS portion (17.88%) than in AS portion (6.27%). The sprouted nodes were significantly higher in the well watered condition (0.95 viable nodes m-2) than in rainfed ones (0.45 viable nodes m-2); equally stem density at the end of the number of stems per square meter emission was significantly affected by soil water conditions (1.63 and 4.28 stems m-2 in rainfed and irrigated condition respectively). Moreover the research allowed to point out that the minimum water requirement for stem sprouting was 25% of the available soil water content., Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 518-521

The European Union (EU) has set quite an ambitious goal for biofuels contribution to the makeup of the renewable energy mix in the next decades. While substantial efforts have been made to develop the technologies for the transformation of biomass into biofuels, it is still uncertain to what extent the EU will be able to generate the biomass needed to meet its targets without compromising domestic food security. Using a bottom-up approach, this review addresses one of the key elements: the potential availability of land for non-food crops in the EU. The assess-ment is based on a land allocation model, which calculates surplus land that would be available for non-food crops after satisfying food and feed demands. Projections of future agriculture productivity and changes in population are the most important parameters of the modeling applied for two future scenarios established for the years 2020 and 2030. The total area potentially available for non-food crops in the EU-27 (excluding Cyprus and Malta) is estimated to be 13.2 million ha in the current situation, with fallow land the largest contributor. In scenarios 2020 and 2030, addi-tional land would be released from food and fodder crops, resulting in total land potential of 20.5 million ha in 2020 and 26.2 million ha in 2030. Results presented on a regional basis indicate potential locations for biomass transforma-tion plants in terms of feedstock production. A set of non-food crops can be recommended for the diverse climate and agronomic conditions of the entire EU area. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, LtdKeywords: land assessment; land use; energy crops; non-food crops; bioenergy; biofuels