Nachhaltige Fruchtfolgesysteme für den biologischen Energiepflanzenanbau in Österreich

Summary

Biogas production is a key technology for sustainable use of biomass from agricultural production. An optimisation of biogas production from energy crops should not confine to the consideration of the biogas process. To assure a durable success, cropping of energy plants has to be designed according to the principles of sustainable crop rota-tions. Only in site-adapted and ecologically balanced crop rotation systems, energy crop production is meaningful. The general aim of this study was to develope site-adapted crop rotation systems including energy crops as main and catch crops.
Study regions were chosen to represent large regions of Austria. To include a great share of the crop species relevant for Austria, sites from the dry region (NUTS III region „Weinviertel”), the transition zone (NUTS III region „Mostviertel-Eisenwurzen, Northern part“) and the Northern Alps (NUTS III region „Mostviertel-Eisenwurzen, Southern part) were chosen.
Altogether, three different categories of model crop rotations were designed:
1. Typical regional model crop rotations
2. Crop rotations for energy crop production (I) with the aim of optimising methane hectare yields considering ethical and economic guidelines
3. Crop rotations for energy crop production (II) with the aim of maximal methane hectare yields
The methane hectare yields in organic crop rotations I amounted to around 830 to 1700 Nm3 ha-1 a-1. Crop rotations II yielded around 2430 to 3650 Nm3 ha-1 a-1. Highest values were achieved on farms with a great share of energetically used fodder crops.