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Agricultural land abandonment due to biophysical and socioeconomic constraints is increasing across Europe. Meanwhile there is also an increase in bioenergy demand. This study assessed woody crop performance on several relevant types of marginal agricultural land in Europe, based on field experiments in Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. In Latvia, hybrid aspen was more productive than birch and alder species, and after eight years produced 4.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony soil with sandy loam texture, when best clone and treatment combination was selected. In Spain, Siberian elm produced up to 7.1 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony, sandy soil with low organic carbon content after three triennial rotations. In Ukraine, willow plantations produced a maximum of 10.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on a soil with low soil organic carbon after second triennial rotation. The productivity was higher when management practices were optimized specifically to address the limiting factors of a site. Longer rotations and lower biomass yields compared to high-value land can be expected when woody crops are grown on similar marginal agricultural land shown in this study. Future studies should start here and investigate to what extent woody crops can contribute to rural development under these conditions.

Liu, X., Burras, C. L., Kravchenko, Y. S., Duran, A., Huffman, T., Morras, H., Studdert, G., Zhang, X., Cruse, R. M. and Yuan, X. 2012. Overview of Mollisols in the world: Distribution, land use and management. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 383–402. Mollisols – a.k.a., Black Soils or Prairie Soils – make up about 916 million ha, which is 7% of the world's ice-free land surface. Their distribution strongly correlates with native prairie ecosystems, but is not limited to them. They are most prevalent in the mid-latitudes of North America, Eurasia, and South America. In North America, they cover 200 million ha of the United States, more than 40 million ha of Canada and 50 million ha of Mexico. Across Eurasia they cover around 450 million ha, extending from the western 148 million ha in southern Russia and 34 million ha in Ukraine to the eastern 35 million ha in northeast China. They are common to South America's Argentina and Uruguay, covering about 89 million and 13 million ha, respectively. Mollisols are often recognized as inherently productive and fertile soils. They are extensively and intensively farmed, and increasingly dedicated to cereals production, which needs significant inputs of fertilizers and tillage. Mollisols are also important soils in pasture, range and forage systems. Thus, it is not surprising that these soils are prone to soil erosion, dehumification (loss of stable aggregates and organic matter) and are suffering from anthropogenic soil acidity. Therefore, soil scientists from all of the world's Mollisols regions are concerned about the sustainability of some of current trends in land use and agricultural practices. These same scientists recommend increasing the acreage under minimum or restricted tillage, returning plant residues and adding organic amendments such as animal manure to maintain or increase soil organic matter content, and more systematic use of chemical amendments such as agricultural limestone to replenish soil calcium reserves.

Today clearing of contaminated soils from heavy metals, pesticide residues is very important problem for Ukraine. Soil pollution is considered to be the result of the functioning of metallurgical and chemical industrial enterprises, as well as the irrational application of chemical plant protection means in the agricultural sector. The range of such preparations as well as the areas of contaminated soils are increasing every year. Phytoremediation with the help of herbaceous plants is one of the most effective methods of decontamination. This list of plants should be supplemented by perennial energy crops, taking into account the absorbing powers of their root system. The basis for preparing the material was the multiple scientific literary sources of domestic and foreign scientists on an investigated theme, the working-out of relevant techniques and scientific and practical recommendations. We applied both general scientific methods (dialectics, analysis and synthesis) and special ones for conducting of analytical review of literature. The largest area of soil in Ukraine is contaminated with cobalt, molybdenum, and copper, whose content exceeds not only the background values but also the maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). It has been defined that the intensity of heavy metals transition in the system “soil-plant” of the energy crops has the following form Cd→Cu→Zn→Pb. Perennial energy crops are capable to create quickly an above ground phytomass and to form an aggressive root system that enables them to accumulate heavy metals from the soil. They can be new and important plants for phytoremediation. At the same time, the energy crops are allocated in accordance with agroclimatic zoning taking into account plant responses to the growing conditions and also applying the scheme of soil remediation from heavy metals. It has been established that energy crops (Switchgrass and Silvergrass) are Hyperaccumulators. They actively absorb heavy metals and partialy accumulate them in their underground and above ground parts. Silvergrass (Miscanthus giganteus) provides higher yield than switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), though switchgrass has less dry matter content, higher accumulation of heavy metals in plant phytomass but the maximum permissible concentration is lower than regulated standards. Silvergrass (Miscanthus giganteus) provides higher yield than switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), though switchgrass has less dry matter content, higher accumulation of heavy metals in plant phytomass and maximum permissible concentration is lower than regulated standards. On termination of the vegetation, the above-ground vegetative mass of these plants can undergo to proper processing that is an additional source of non-ferrous metals or biofuel production for energy purposes.

Due to urbanization, large portions of vegetated territory have been replaced by waterproof surfaces. The consequences are greater outflows, lower infiltration, and lower evapotranspiration. Pavement systems made with permeable surfaces allow the infiltration of water, ensuring reduction of runoff volume. In this paper, the methods of analysis of the hydrological and environmental performance of the pavement systems are reviewed in the context of urban drainage and regarding their durability. The purpose is to present an overview of the studies published during the last decade in the field. The Pubmed and Web Science Core Collection electronic databases were used to conduct the scientific literature survey. This generated 1238 papers, of which only 17 met the criteria and were included and discussed in this review. The evidence drawn from the knowledge on which the document is based provides useful critical interpretations of existing studies to progress the current understanding on hydrological performance and environment impacts in terms of conventional pollutant removal efficiency and the current permeable pavement systems.

The article defines the characteristics of energy consumption in crop production. The process of production in the aspect of energy conversion in terms of renewable and non-renewable sources has been considered. The basic prerequisites for achieving energy efficiency in crop production were analyzed. A classification of characteristics of energy consumption in crop production, which determine the level of use of means and objects of work, as well as the ultimate efficiency of production, has been proposed. The indicated characteristics have been studied in detail in terms of the groups of factors (relative to bio-climatic conditions, technological level of production development, degree of technical support, organizational and economic variables of production development). The appropriate reasons for the uneven rates of growth of energy consumption in crop production and the production output volumes have been identified.

Results of many years of introduction research on Panicum virgatum L. (Poaceae) in M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine are presented. The biomorphological characteristics, biochemical composition of the plant, crop yield of the above ground plant mass and seed are determined. The yield of valuable compounds and energy efficiency of the crop are identified. High-yield forms with assigned features of crop yield, sugar content of plant biomass, total energy yield and biofuel output per one square unit are created. We proved that in the condition of crop introduction almost all forms of Panicum virgatum undergo full cycle of plant development – from the seed to the seed during one growing season, starting from the first-year. A phase of a seed maturation in the early developed plant forms begins in the third decade of September, in late developed forms until the middle of October, some forms have their growing season until the beginning of winter frosting. The major morphological features of plants are dependent on the forms and crops variations and ripening phase. Total harvest of the above ground mass and general output of the plant up till the flowering phase increases, where at the end of growing season decreases. We showed that plant forms with retard development had a high yield of above-ground mass for 58.0–115.6 % greater than the early developed plants. Increment in the dry matter content of plants from tiller to seed ripening phase is demonstrated. However, the percentage of sugars, ascorbic acid, carotene, and lipids is diminished. During the same growing season we did not observe any correlation between lignin and fiber accumulation. Similar results were acquired for the heat capacity harvest of above ground mass. High-yield Panicum virgatum crop provide substantial output of the dry mass, ethanol, and energy throughout all development phases of the plant. Among studied plant samples the top productivity was supplied by Zoryane cultivar.

Since European society is experiencing an aggravation of the issue of energy security, the production of renewable energy is becoming increasingly important. The advantages of biofuel—in particular, biogas—and the positive effects of the development of its production are summarized within the framework of the problem statement. It is emphasized that the production of biogas from various renewable raw materials causes economic, ecological, and social effects. The development of biogas production can be especially active in combination with the development of the agricultural sphere. In response to today’s demand, the authors in this research present a model of the correlation between the output of biogas from different types of organic mass and specify the factors affecting it. In particular, a multiple econometric model of the relationship between the output of biogas from different types of organic mass and the content of dry organic matter and the share of possible methane content in organic matter was built; the density of the connection between the factors and the resulting feature was evaluated; the tightness of the general relationship (influence) of independent variables on the dependent variable was checked using the coefficient of determination; and the reliability of the correlation characteristics was estimated using Fisher’s and Student’s tests. As a result, with the use of convincing evidence—in particular, taking into account the potential of the Ukrainian agricultural sector—the feasibility of further development of biogas production in combination with the development of agricultural production is substantiated.