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Product chains from fen biomass in Lower Saxony
Project
Project code: JKI-PB-08-1283
Contract period: 01.01.2020
- 31.12.2022
Purpose of research: Project preparation activity
Paludiculture is the agricultural or forestry use of wet and rewetted moorland and other organic soils. The prerequisite is that the water level is kept close to the soil surface all year round or that it is dammed up. Compared to conventional agriculture and forestry, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and the loss of the peat body is minimised or even stopped. In this innovative form of cultivation, the growing or cultivated above-ground biomass is used, but not below-ground plant parts. The skimmed off biomass is suitable for further processing into various products. The production of building materials and horticultural substrate raw materials from stalk-like biomass of wetland plants such as Typha and reeds is particularly promising. These so-called lowland moor paludic cultures can be cultivated in Lower Saxony on rewetted lowland moor soils and, under certain circumstances, on other rewetted organic soils, such as moor soils.
The use of Lower Saxony's moors for paludiculture is currently not feasible for several reasons. There are no sales markets for the products or sales are very low, e.g. reed for roofing. Most of the product chains have to be newly developed. There are also obstacles, such as the unfavourable political and promotional framework conditions for paludiculture at EU, federal and state level. Furthermore, cultivation and technology are not mature. Accordingly, profitability is not (yet) assured. In order to make paludiculture feasible, new value chains must be developed in future together with the relevant actors.
The aim of this project is the development of sustainable product chains from paludiculture biomass from rewetted low moor areas and their ecological and economic evaluation.
This includes
- the production and use of sustainable, high-quality bio-based products from paludicultures
- the collection of practical data on the cultivation and establishment of selected crops (Typha latifolia, T. angustifolia, Phragmitis australis) at sites in Lower Saxony.
- the assessment of ecosystem services (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and natural landscape ecological functions)
- the new added value of wet moorland areas.
The establishment of paludicultures on fen sites in Lower Saxony is intended to achieve the following objectives with regard to ecosystem services:
- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fen soils, reduction of methane emissions in case of overflow and peat conservation
- Restoration of the natural landscape ecological functions as carbon sink, habitat, nutrient and pollutant filter and water reservoir and promotion of biodiversity.
The test plots will be set up on a practical scale and will serve demonstration purposes at the same time.
In this way, technical and economic obstacles to cultivation are removed and ways are found to promote the marketing of the products produced.
Section overview
Subjects
- Soil science
- Climate Change
