Title: Delivery of multiple ecosystem services in pasture by shelter created from the hybrid sterile bioenergy grass Miscanthus x giganteus

Abstract:

The benefits of shelter in increasing crop yields and accelerating ripening has been well researched in fruit, arable and horticultural crops. Its benefits to pasture, despite its importance for livestock production, is less well researched. In this work, Miscanthus shelterbelts were established on an intensively irrigated dairy farm. Seven key ecosystem services associated with these belts were identified and quantified. Pasture yield and quality were recorded in Miscanthus-sheltered and control field boundaries with little shelter. Pasture yield increased by up to 14% in the sheltered areas downwind of Miscanthus. Pasture quality was equivalent in the sheltered and open areas.Miscanthus provided more favourable nesting sites for bumblebees and for New Zealand endemic lizards (skinks) compared to field boundaries. The sheltered areas also had higher mineralisation rates of organic matter and higher numbers of earthworms. Using a high-yielding sterile grass such as Miscanthus to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services also produced a bioenergy feedstock. In conclusion, full benefits of shelterbelts to the farming system cannot be fully assessed unless direct and indirect benefits are properly assessed, as in this work.

Biography:

Christopher Paul Littlejohn is a farmer residing in Uganda. Previous to this he was researching energy grass use for the Green Elephant Company, whose mission was to bring sustainable energy use to Uganda. He completed his PhD research in New Zealand on the ecosystem benefits of incorporating energy grass production into dairy agricultural systems and has worked closely with MiscanthusNZ to further promote this work. At present he is helping to establish Proton carbon and renewable diesel plants in New Zealand and Uganda. Previous to his PhD Chris was farming in the UK before becoming a teacher in 2010 and teaching in both the UK and NZ at school, tertiary and University level.