Energy grasses for use as solid fuels are harvested after winter, i.e. in early spring. But in regions with early snow, lodging is a major risk leading to quality and yield losses. Visual lodging assessment was conducted to evaluate genotypic effects and effects of nitrogen fertilization on lodging susceptibility of miscanthus and switchgrass after heavy snowfall. In a comparison of 15 miscanthus genotypes, strong differences in lodging behaviour were observed. All M. x sinensis genotypes and M. x sinensis hybrids showed high lodging damage. Greatest resistance to lodging was observed in the genotype M. x sacchariflorus (score of 5.33) and M. x giganteus (scores of 5.00 and 3.33). The level of nitrogen fertilizer only had an effect on the lodging susceptibility of switchgrass, where lodging increased with each increment in nitrogen level. No influence of nitrogen fertilization was observed on the lodging behaviour of M. x giganteus. It was concluded that the selection of lodging resistant genotypes of miscanthus and adapted nitrogen fertilization regimes in switchgrass can become important factors for securing biomass supply from energy grasses in colder regions where early snow fall frequently occurs.

Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 619-622