Nacrtak Wood fuel quality attributes have to be considered by logistics planners if fuel procurement from forests and energy production at the plant are considered simultaneously. The single most important quality attribute is the moisture content (MC) of chips or raw material delivered to energy plants. It affects heating value, storage properties, chipping and transport costs of the fuel. To ...

Biomass processing plants have a trade-off between two competing cost factors: as size increases, the economy of scale reduces per unit processing cost, while a longer biomass transportation distance increases the delivered cost of biomass. The competition between these cost factors leads to an optimum size at which the cost of energy produced from biomass is minimized. Four processing options ...

We investigated effects of plant species richness in experimental grassland plots on annual above- and belowground biomass production estimated from repeated harvests and ingrowth cores, respectively. Aboveground and total biomass production increased with increasing plant species richness while belowground production remained constant. Root to shoot biomass production ratios (R/S) in mixtures ...

Foraging herbivores must meet nutritional requirements by not only finding enough plant biomass to consume, but also finding plants with high protein content and low concentrations of potentially toxic plant secondary metabolites (PSMs). Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) are sagebrush obligate herbivores that consume relatively high concentrations of PSMs. ...

Species-rich grasslands that become enriched with nitrogen often suffer decreases in species richness, increases in plant biomass, and invasion by weedy exotic species. Suitable techniques to restore enriched grasslands and reestablish native communities are increasingly needed. Here we report results of a 5-yr experiment in enriched coastal prairie grasslands (Bodega Marine Reserve, Bodega Bay...

this experiment was carried out at agricultural research station of gorgan during summer 2006 to study the effects of corn and green gram intercropping on forage yield, and weed biomass. the experimental design was rcbd with twelve treatments and four replications. a local green gram and corn single cross 550 were the crops employed. the experimental treatments consisted of sole corn and sole g...

abstract soil microbial activity and biochemical processes are often limited by carbon availability in arid- and semi-arid regions, probably due to the low organic matter content. consequently, return of plant residues to soil is a convenient and effortless practice for increasing microbial activities and biochemical reactions. the primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of v...

The conversion of plant biomass into liquid transportation fuels is a complex process that could be simplified by altering the ratios of the cell wall polymers that constitute the main biomass components. The composition of biomass varies naturally depending upon plant species and cell type, including some highly specialized walls that consist mainly of a single component. Progress is being mad...

The response of plant traits to global change is of fundamental importance to understanding anthropogenic impacts on natural systems. Nevertheless, little is known about plant genetic variation in such responses or the indirect effect of environmental change on higher trophic levels. In a three-year common garden experiment, we grew the shrub Artemisia californica from five populations sourced ...

genotypic variation is useful to breeders when selecting genotypes to improve particular traits. inorder to study of genetic diversity 20 genotypes of hordeum murynum studied in the form of randomized complete block design the experimental field of islamic azad university shahre rey branch with 3 replication in the year 2012. notes traits was conducted including days to heading, days to maturit...