Comparison of the growth and biomass production of Miscanthus sinensis, Miscanthus floridulus and Saccharum arundinaceum

Miscanthus and Saccharum are considered excellent candidates for bioenergy feedstock production. A field experiment was conducted in Zhejiang province of China to characterize the phenotypic differences in three species, two of Miscanthus (M. sinensis and M. floridulus) and one of Saccharum (S. arundinaceum), each with two accessions collected from China. Agronomical traits, including plant height, culm number, tuft diameter and culm diameter, were monitored monthly for the first 3 years of growth. For each year of trail, flowering time was observed and biomass yield was harvested. M. floridulus produced a superior biomass yield with increasing plant age associated with higher yields (4.18, 24.16 and 29.01 t dry matter/ha in November of years one to three, respectively). Higher culm diameter, plant height and tuft diameter values were observed for M. floridulus when compared to the other species. Biomass yield was positively correlated to tuft diameter, culm diameter, culm number and negatively to flowering time, but it showed no correlation with plant height. Tuft diameter and culm diameter could be suitable indicators in the selection of accessions for crop yield at the yield-building phase. Studies of the primary colonizers of Miscanthus and Saccharum in their original location may be of interest from the perspective of bioenergy germplasm resource collection.