Evaluating the suitability of marginal land for a perennial energy crop on the Loess Plateau of China. Issue 9 (22nd June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Yanmei; Chen, Shaolin; von Cossel, Moritz; Xu, Bingcheng; Gao, Huanlin; Jiang, Rui; Faaij, Andre
• Is Part Of: Global change biology. Volume 13:Issue 9(2021)
• Page Start: 1388
• Page End: 1406
• Publication Date: 2021-06-22
• Subjects: biomass production -- fuzzy‐theory‐based models -- land suitability -- Loess Plateau -- marginal land -- perennial crops -- switchgrass; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Energy crops -- Periodicals; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12865
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-1693

Abstract

Abstract: With a large marginal land area, the Loess Plateau in China holds great potential for biomass production and environmental improvement. Identifying suitable locations for biomass production on marginal land is important for decision‐makers from the viewpoint of land‐use planning. However, there is limited information on the suitability of marginal land within the Loess Plateau for biomass production. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the suitability of the promising perennial energy crop switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.) on marginal land across the Loess Plateau. A fuzzy logical model was developed and validated based on field trials on the Loess Plateau and applied to the marginal land of this region, owing to its ability of dealing with the continuous nature of soil, landscape variations, and uncertainties of the input data. This study identified that approximately 12.8–20.8 Mha of the Loess Plateau as available marginal land, of which 2.8–4.7 Mha is theoretically suitable for switchgrass cultivation. These parts of the total marginal land are mainly distributed in northeast and southwest of the Loess Plateau. The potential yield of switchgrass ranges between 44 and 77 Tg. This study showed that switchgrass can grow on a large proportion of the marginal land of the Loess Plateau and therefore offers great potential for biomass provision. The spatial suitability maps produced in this study provide information to farmers and policymakers to enable a more sustainable development of biomass production on the Loess Plateau. In addition, the fuzzy‐theory‐based model developed in this study provided a good framework for evaluating the suitability of marginal land. Abstract : Planting perennial energy crops such as switchgrass on the marginal land of the Loess Plateau in China is a promising solution to mitigate global climate change while protecting the environment. We developed a fuzzy logic model to evaluate the marginal land that would be suitable for cultivating switchgrass on the Loess Plateau. This model also provides an estimated yield potential of switchgrass grown in these areas that can be used for further environmental and socioeconomic evaluation of bioenergy production in the marginal land of the Loess Plateau.