A Preliminary Study on the Effect of Different Nitrogen Levels on the Biomass Yield and Some Yield Characteristics of Elephantgrass (Miscanthus x giganteus) Used as an Energy Crops

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effect of nitrogen levels on the biomass yield and some yield parameters of elephantgrass (Miscanthus x giganteus). Material and Methods: The experiment was carried out at Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops, Izmir, Turkey, during the summer growth seasons of 2017 as a pot experiment grown under outdoor. In the experiment, elephantgrass rhizomes were planted with different fertilization levels of nitrogen (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 kg·ha-1 N). Some parameters were evaluated in the study such as plant height, stem number, stem diameter, dry biomass yield and ash content. Results: The effect of nitrogen levels were significant on all parameter tested except stem diameter in the study. Application of the higher rates of N treatments increased the biomass yields compared to the control. Based on these results, 150 kg·ha-1 N was proved the best fertilizer levels for elephantgrass biomass yield under Mediterranean ecological conditions