부산대학교 도서관

Despite various options in energy cropping for the diversification of agricultural land use, such as the introduction of new crops, in practice, there is a one-sided orientation toward the use of maize as biogas feedstock in Germany. One reason, why they are not yet introduced in practice, is that for most of them neither the agricultural feasibility nor their ecological and economic benefit could be clearly shown to the farmers up to now. As part of the research projects “Site-adapted Cropping Systems for Energy Crops” (EVA), and “Optimized energy cropping systems for the sustainable biogas production (Upscaling)” the effects of three new energy crops have been tested under real farm conditions in two different regions in the northern part of Germany. The large scale field trial consisted of the comparison of the following energy crops: 0- maize as reference crop, 1- perennial Silphie (Silphium perfoliatum), 2- Szarvasi grass (Agropyron elongatum), and 3-perennial wild flower mixture. The trail has been investigated regarding the following effects: α-diversity at the plot scale, contribution to the β-diversity among the crops and species composition. The results suggest that the integration of the new perennial energy crop might contribute to an essential weed diversity enhancement. Weed flora diversity was between 2-4 times higher in most of the cases in the new energy crops compared to maize.