Miscanthus – the magic plant
25 March 2019
In a Rural Delivery television
programme last year Prof Steve Wratten of Lincoln University
described Miscanthus as a “magic plant”. Although there
was a degree of poetic licence in that statement, it is very
understandable why he described Miscanthus in that way. But
there are no magicians involved. Miscanthus is a truly
remarkable plant that has so many advantages and options for
commercial use that people who hear about it tend to think
“This is too good to be true!”.
So they ignore it. The phenomenal success of Miscanthus therefore actually detracts from securing serious interest in both growing and using it. Contrary to people’s initial reaction, what seems like hype, is in fact true.
https://www.ruraldelivery.net.nz/stories/Miscanthus-Grass
As
an example without exhausting all possibilities, some of the
advantages that Miscanthus can claim - supported by
international as well as New Zealand experience -
include:
Reputed to be the highest reliable annual per
hectare dry matter production plant for temperate
regions;
Having the ability to grow in low fertility
soils and even waterlogged soils;
Providing
sufficient shelter on pivot irrigated dairy farms to
increase farm production;
Providing habitat for
bumblebees and for indigenous skinks on dairy
farms;
Giving farmers a crop that once established
requires virtually no work but produces a significant and
reliable annual income;
Insulating farmers against
variations in primary product prices;
Being sterile
and never spreading off-site;
Being easy to eradicate
if no longer wanted;
Having a large number of markets
including on-farm uses such as commercial mulch or calf
bedding and green economy uses such as boiler fuel or
renewable diesel production;
Being able to be
harvested using conventional agricultural
machinery.
Offering an option for waste disposal of
high nitrogen effluent onto a crop that is so efficient at
capturing the nitrogen that the leaching is less than what
is achieved by indigenous or pine forest with just rainfall
going on it.
Being very resistant to diseases and
pests.
The Miscanthus that is being grown and used in New Zealand is a sterile, naturally occurring hybrid of two Miscanthus species whose ranges overlap in Japan. We have two clones in New Zealand - one that was obtained from the USA and one that was obtained from the UK - and both seem to be very suitable to New Zealand conditions.
Miscanthus New Zealand Limited (MNZ) is the company
that imported the Miscanthus but prior to this, Miscanthus
had to go through a rigorous vetting system that was carried
out by the Environmental Risk Management Authority to ensure
that such import would not pose any environmental risk to
New Zealand. Their conclusion was that not only was
Miscanthus not a risk, but it was so much in the interests
of New Zealand to have it growing here that they waived the
fee for their assessment.
Because of its sterility, Miscanthus does not produce seeds so MNZ has been multiplying it vegetatively. Using a combination of both tissue culture and specialist greenhouse techniques, the numbers of available plantlets have been substantially increased. In the past 18 months, MNZ has been producing Miscanthus rhizomes for commercial scale plantings and has been learning the pros and cons of various aspects of such planting.
The Miscanthus industry in New Zealand is now poised to take off as progressive landowners realise the enormous potential of this crop and begin to plant significant areas. One or two large end users have already started to plant their own stands and they have plans for doing more in the future.
Industries that produce high nitrogen effluent and that also have a demand for industrial heat are able to get the best of both worlds. They can spray irrigate their effluent onto purpose grown Miscanthus stands - with extremely low leaching of nitrogen - and then use the harvested crop to fire their boilers and create their industrial heat. They may also be able to benefit from the consequent reduction in net carbon dioxide emissions.
If electricity is required rather than heat, the Miscanthus can also be used for generation of the electricity. This has been being done for a number of years by a company in the USA.
This article is the first of a series that is being produced to educate people about Miscanthus so that New Zealand can get the multiple benefits that Miscanthus offers. Further follow-up articles will be written and published in the near future.
ENDS