Description
The tropical leguminous shrub/tree, leucaena (Leucaena spp. mainly leucocephala), and perennial tropical tall grasses such as elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum), sugarcane, and energycane (Saccharum spp.) are well adapted to the long growing seasons and high rainfall of humid lower South. In much of the area the topgrowth is killed by frost during winter and plants regenerate from underground parts in spring. Selected accessions from a duplicated 373 accession leucaena nursery had an average annual woody stem dry matter production of 31.4 Mg ha-1 and four seasons growth of 78.9 Mg ha-1. The tall perennial grasses have linear growth rates of 18 to 27 g m-2d-1 for long periods (140 to 196 d and sometimes longer) each season. Oven dry biomass yields of tall grasses have varied from 19 to 45 Mg ha-1 in mild temperate locations to over 60 Mg ha- 1yr-1 in warm subtropics of lower Florida peninsular.
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Tall Tropical Grasses and Leucaena as Energy Crops for Lower South USA
The tropical leguminous shrub/tree, leucaena (Leucaena spp. mainly leucocephala), and perennial tropical tall grasses such as elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum), sugarcane, and energycane (Saccharum spp.) are well adapted to the long growing seasons and high rainfall of humid lower South. In much of the area the topgrowth is killed by frost during winter and plants regenerate from underground parts in spring. Selected accessions from a duplicated 373 accession leucaena nursery had an average annual woody stem dry matter production of 31.4 Mg ha-1 and four seasons growth of 78.9 Mg ha-1. The tall perennial grasses have linear growth rates of 18 to 27 g m-2d-1 for long periods (140 to 196 d and sometimes longer) each season. Oven dry biomass yields of tall grasses have varied from 19 to 45 Mg ha-1 in mild temperate locations to over 60 Mg ha- 1yr-1 in warm subtropics of lower Florida peninsular.
