Optimisation of Reed Canary Grass as a native European Energy Crop (ORNATE)

发展生物能源，包括生物燃料，以取代化石碳，有着重大的全球战略驱动力。其中包括减少温室气体排放、能源安全、油价上涨的长期趋势、创造高科技"绿色就业机会"以及农村复兴。对生物能源的需求需要可持续的能源作物品种，这些品种要能以低投入获得高产和稳定的产量，并能以最高效率转化可收获的生物质。ORNATE项目建议建立必要的研究、开发和知识，将金丝雀草作为一种作物，在欧洲提供可持续的生物能源原料。其他一些能源作物已经受到全世界的关注。然而，金丝雀草在欧洲的能源作物组合中发挥着重要作用，因为它表现出独特的特性组合：1）它是欧洲的本土物种，能够在非常边缘的土地上生长，具有碳汇和生物多样性效益; 2）建立成本低廉，非常适合现有的农业实践，为农民提供灵活性和低风险;和3）它能够从夏末到早春产生收获的生物质，从而比其它能源草在一年中更早地产生生物质，因此降低了最终用户的储存要求。芦苇金丝雀草被早期的欧洲定居者带到北美，在那里它被种植作为饲料作物，从那时起，大西洋两岸对其使用的兴趣一直很小。最早的报道是1836年在德国出售金丝雀草种子作为饲料，而第一次农艺试验开始于1837年在瑞典。尽管迄今为止的种植面积有限（目前在斯堪的纳维亚半岛种植了20，000公顷），但金丝雀草在北方欧洲（包括英国，爱尔兰和斯堪的纳维亚半岛）作为生物能源作物提供了相当大的潜力，特别是在边缘土地上，因为它可以在干旱和潮湿地区生长良好。例如，金丝雀草在潮湿的土壤中生长得非常好，在很宽的pH值范围内长时间承受洪水，同时也表现出出色的耐旱性。ORNATE项目合作伙伴（英国阿伯里斯特威斯大学、爱尔兰Teagasc、瑞典农业科学大学和Senova有限公司，英国）将开发关于芦苇金丝雀草如何在北方欧洲的多种环境中生长的知识，包括在不用于粮食生产的边缘贫瘠土地上，其中数百万公顷存在于欧洲各地。特别是ORNATE合作伙伴将专注于那些能够快速部署作物的作物特性：生物质产量，生物质化学成分和种子产量。合作伙伴将利用这些信息来开发必要的遗传资源，以建立一个芦苇金丝雀草育种计划，该计划能够生产出产量更高，更能在次优土地上生长，更适应英国，爱尔兰和瑞典生长的新品种。此外，矿物成分，包括氮，硫和氯，在作物燃烧时具有负排放或腐蚀性质，需要最大限度地减少。因此，将对这些和其他化学物质进行测量，以使金丝雀草品种与许多不同的最终用途相匹配，例如通过制造颗粒并在35千瓦的商业锅炉中燃烧。该项目还将研究通过更好地了解新兴的可再生能源市场和生物质价值链，最大限度地发挥金丝雀草效益的机会。

There are major global strategic drivers for the development of bioenergy, including biofuels, to substitute for fossil carbon. These include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, energy security, the long term trend of increasing oil price, opportunities for the creation of high tech "green jobs", and rural regeneration. The demand for bioenergy requires sustainable energy crop varieties with high and stable yields from low inputs, with harvestable biomass that can be converted with maximum efficiency. The ORNATE project proposes to establish the research, development and knowledge necessary to develop reed canary grass as a crop to provide a sustainable bioenergy feedstock in Europe. A number of other energy crops already receive worldwide attention. However, reed canary grass has an important role to play in the mix of energy crops in Europe because it exhibits a unique combination of characteristics: 1) it is a native species of Europe, able to grow on very marginal land, with carbon sink and biodiversity benefits; 2) it is inexpensive to establish and fits well into existing farming practice, providing flexibility and low risk to farmers; and 3) it is able to produce harvested biomass from late summer until early spring thereby producing biomass earlier in the year than other energy grasses and so reducing storage requirements for end users. Reed canary grass was taken by early European settlers to North America where it was grown as a forage crop and a small level of interest has been retained in its use on both sides of the Atlantic since then. The earliest report of reed canary grass seed being sold for use as forage was in 1836 in Germany, while the first agronomic trials began in 1837 in Sweden. Although limited in its cultivation to date (with 20,000 ha currently grown in Scandinavia), reed canary grass offers considerable potential as a bioenergy crop in Northern Europe including UK, Ireland and Scandinavia especially on marginal land as it can grow well in both dry and wet areas. For example reed canary grass grows extremely well in wet soils, withstanding flooding for long periods across a wide pH range whilst equally showing excellent drought tolerance. The ORNATE project partners (Aberystwyth University, UK; Teagasc, Ireland; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden; and Senova Ltd., UK) will develop knowledge on how reed canary grass grows across multiple environments in Northern Europe including on marginal unproductive land not utilised for food production, of which many million ha exist across Europe. In particular the ORNATE partners will focus on those crop characteristics which will enable the rapid deployment of the crop: biomass yield, biomass chemical composition and seed yield. The partners will use this information to develop the genetic resources necessary to establish a reed canary grass breeding programme that is able to produce new varieties that are higher yielding, better able to grow on sub-optimal land, and better adapted to growth in UK, Ireland and Sweden. In addition, mineral constituents, including nitrogen, sulphur, and chlorine, have negative emissions or corrosion qualities when the crop is combusted and need to be minimised. These and other chemistries will therefore be measured to match reed canary grass varieties to a number of different end uses, for example by making pellets and combusting in a 35 kilowatt commercial boiler. The project will also examine the opportunities to maximise the benefits of reed canary grass through better understanding of emerging renewable energy markets and biomass value chains.