Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXII, Issue 2
Written by Victor ŢÎŢEI
Asteraceae is one of the largest families of flowering plants, which are the most promising from economic point of view. We investigated some biological peculiarities and the quality of the biomass of the introduced perennial species Cynara cardunculus var. altilis in the National Botanical Garden (Institute), Chişinău. Research data demonstrated that cardoon, Cynara cardunculus, in the second and next growing seasons, was characterized by intensive growth and development rate that allowed obtaining up to 44-71 t/ha fresh mass and 10-14 t/ha dry matter. It was established that the concentration of nutrients in the prepared silage was 12.5% protein, 28.0% cellulose, 23.0% hemicellulose, 2.6% lignin, 8.4% ash; the dry matter digestibility was 72.3%. The biochemical methane production potential of Cynara cardunculus silage substrate reached 348 l/kg organic matter. The dry biomass, after harvesting the seeds, can be used to produce solid biofuel. The specific density of the briquettes reached 918 kg/m3, with 19.0 MJ/kg gross calorific value, the ash content in briquettes was 2.8%. We consider that Cynara cardunculus var. altilis is an excellent source of nectar and pollen for honeybees, and its biomass may be valuable fodder and feedstock for renewable energy production.
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