LAI and biomass of kenaf as affected by sowing time and plant density: A simple model simulates the time course in a Mediterranean environment

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a warm-season annual plant grown in the past for the bast fiber. In the last decades, this crop has been re-evaluated for many alternative industrial uses of its biomass (i.e., production of biofuel, biocomposite materials, bioproducts). In this paper, the interaction effects of sowing time (May and June) and plant population (P20 and P40, 20 and 40 plants m-2, respectively) on yield and some biomass parameters were analysed in two cultivars of kenaf (Tainung 2-TAI, and Everglades 41-EVER), in a two-year experiment in semi-arid environment, under irrigation. The aim of this paper was to assess the potential of this crop as an energy or industrial feedstock, in south Mediterranean environment where was never cultivated. Overall, plants from late sowing (June) were smaller and with less node, those at high plant density (P40) were thinner. In both seasons, plants of TAI were taller than those of EVER. Plant weight was greater in P20, and an overall significant negative correlation was found between plant weight and actual plant density (r = -0.76 **). The shift of sowing time reduced significantly the final dry biomass. Crop productivity did not change with plant density, however a higher percent bark corresponded to P40 in both years, cultivars, and sowing times, A simple model was developed to simulate and predict the course of LAI and dry biomass (AGB) with time, using field dataset of 2004, for calibration, and dataset of 2005, for validation. The minor response of LAI to plant population in 2005 led to a low accuracy of model approximation. This result suggests that other variables that are not considered in the model, may influence LAI. Nevertheless, the overall AGB model approximation of observed value was accurate. Concluding, the results revealed that biomass productivity is more influenced by sowing time than by plant density. However, plant population has been found to regulate the proportion of bark/core layers, with important implications for industrial (energy and pulp production) purposes. Further improvements on the simple model developed, e.g., including soil water nitrogen balances submodels, may be done, in order to explore the possibility of using the model under different conditions of soil water content and nitrogen fertilization.