Miscanthus, a perennial rhizomatous C4 grass, is a potential biomass crop, mainly because of its high yield potential and low demand for inputs. But, overwintering is the biggest problem for establishment of Miscanthus in the first year after planting rhizomes, particularly in East Nothern Asia, where winter is very cold. In this study, overwintering and freezing tests with Miscanthus rhizomes were conducted in the field (Experimental Farm Station of Seoul National University, Suwon, Korea) and the freezer maintained at -18℃, respectively. For overwintering test, rhizomes of Miscanthus sinensis, M. sacchariflorus and M. x giganteus were buried at 1, 3, 6, and 9 cm soil depths in the field in December 2009 and transplanted in a plastic pot containing sandy loam soil in March 2010. The pot was then placed in the incubation room maintained at 35/25℃ for assessing seedling establishment and early growth. For freezing test, Miscanthus rhizomes planted at 3 cm soil depth in a plastic pot containing sandy loam soil were kept in the freezer for different durations and then transfer to the incubation room for assessing seedling establishment and early growth. Rhizomes buried at 1 cm showed the least seedling establishment, while those buried at 6 cm showed the best seedling establishment, suggesting that rhizomes need to be planted at 6 cm for their successful overwintering. When rhizomes were exposed to freezing temperature down to -18℃, their survival decreased with increasing the duration of freezing exposure. From 12 hours of exposure their survival rate decreased significantly and finally reached to zero at longer than 24 hours of exposure. Further studies will be conducted to screen cold tolerant genotypes.

• Shin-Wook Kang(Department of Plant Science, Seoul National University)
• Soo-Hyun Lim
• Do-Soon Kim(Department of Plant Science, Seoul National University) Corresponding author