Napier grass （Pennisetum purpureum Schumach）, a C4 tropical plant, has high dry matter productivity and sustainability without the need for renovating every year due to good overwintering ability and the absence of ...Napier grass （Pennisetum purpureum Schumach）, a C4 tropical plant, has high dry matter productivity and sustainability without the need for renovating every year due to good overwintering ability and the absence of serious pathogens or insects injury. This grass is suitable for multipurpose use, providing forage, bioethanol feedstock and phytoremediation of cadmium （Cd） contaminated soil in Kyushu, Japan. When two cultivars of Napier grass （Wruk wona, WK and Merkeron, ME） were grown in Cd-contaminated soils, dry matter yield and the concentration and uptake of herbage Cd were higher in WK than in ME, and soil Cd concentration was reduced by 14% in a single season of cultivation. A dwarf variety of late-heading type （DL）, Napier grass had superior sustainability for more than 5 years in Miyazaki, Japan, and has gradually increased in cultivation areas for both cut-and-carry and grazing herbage production in cooperation with regional communities. Through the extension in several Kyushu areas, DL Napier grass required temperatures above -6.2 ~C for sustainability in winter, based on its threshold response to the lethal minimum temperature. DL Napier grass pasture can be utilized by grazing beef cattle even in early spring with temperate Italian ryegrass inter-sown into its inter-row spaces. Organic digested animal manure or sun-dried leguminous leaves as green manure can replace chemical fertilizers to reduce energy consumption and allow comparable productivity.展开更多
文摘Napier grass （Pennisetum purpureum Schumach）, a C4 tropical plant, has high dry matter productivity and sustainability without the need for renovating every year due to good overwintering ability and the absence of serious pathogens or insects injury. This grass is suitable for multipurpose use, providing forage, bioethanol feedstock and phytoremediation of cadmium （Cd） contaminated soil in Kyushu, Japan. When two cultivars of Napier grass （Wruk wona, WK and Merkeron, ME） were grown in Cd-contaminated soils, dry matter yield and the concentration and uptake of herbage Cd were higher in WK than in ME, and soil Cd concentration was reduced by 14% in a single season of cultivation. A dwarf variety of late-heading type （DL）, Napier grass had superior sustainability for more than 5 years in Miyazaki, Japan, and has gradually increased in cultivation areas for both cut-and-carry and grazing herbage production in cooperation with regional communities. Through the extension in several Kyushu areas, DL Napier grass required temperatures above -6.2 ~C for sustainability in winter, based on its threshold response to the lethal minimum temperature. DL Napier grass pasture can be utilized by grazing beef cattle even in early spring with temperate Italian ryegrass inter-sown into its inter-row spaces. Organic digested animal manure or sun-dried leguminous leaves as green manure can replace chemical fertilizers to reduce energy consumption and allow comparable productivity.
