Forbs enhance productivity of unfertilised grass-clover leys and support low-carbon bioenergy.

ABSTRACT: Intensively managed grasslands are dominated by highly productive grass-clover mixtures. Increasing crop diversity by inclusion of competitive forbs may enhance biomass production and sustainable biofuel production. Here we examined if one or all of three forbs (chicory, Cichorium intybus L.; caraway, Carum carvi L.; plantain, Plantago lanceolata L.) included in ryegrass-red clover mixtures enhanced above- and below-ground productivity, and assessed their biofuel potentials, based on a three-year experiment with and without fertilisation as cattle slurry. We determined herbage yield, standing root biomass, and estimated methane energy output and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per energy unit using life cycle assessment. Results showed that plantain-containing grass-clover mixtures signific

SUBMITTER: Cong WF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5431050 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature