Agriculture, Vol. 32 No. 1, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.18047/poljo.32.1.2
Potential of Giant Reed (Arundo donax L.) in Climate Change Mitigation
Darija Bilandžija
orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-0736
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
*
Nikola Bilandžija
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Hana Štrbenac
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska cesta 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges today, and some cultivated plants that generate large biomass, known as energy crops, can contribute to its mitigation as they are a significant renewable energy source, which produces their biomass primarily through the sequestration of atmospheric carbon and its incorporation into their biomass. The aim of this work is to determine the amount of carbon and nitrogen sequestered by the above-ground biomass of the energy crop giant reed (Arundo donax L.) at two different harvest times (winter and spring) for two years. The research was conducted during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 in the natural stand of giant reed on the island of Pag, Croatia. The dry matter yield is in the range of 23.7–30.2 t ha-1, carbon content of 43.2 – 47.6 %, and nitrogen content of 0.3 – 0.7 %. The amount of total sequestered carbon is between 10.9 – 13.3 t ha-1, and nitrogen 0.08 – 0.20 t ha-1. Different weather conditions during different years of research have a significant impact on the carbon content in aboveground biomass, but not on the other parameters studied. Delaying the harvest date from spring to winter, a higher dry matter yield is achieved, and greater amounts of carbon and nitrogen are sequestered. The interaction of different harvest dates and research years has no significant impact on dry matter yield, and the amount of total bound carbon, and a significant impact was determined for the amount of total bound nitrogen and the carbon and nitrogen content in biomass.
Keywords
energy crops; climate change; sequestration; aboveground biomass; carbon; nitrogen
Hrčak ID:
348726
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2026.
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