DOI: https://doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/27.3.5276
Original scientific paper
Carbon sequestration of Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita L.): Comparison of winter and spring harvests
2026, 27 (3) p. 881-889
Darija BILANDŽIJA, Elvire KEUNI, Josip LETO, Nikola BILANDŽIJA
Abstract
The mounting imperative to adopt environmentally sustainable agricultural practices to address climate change has underscored the significance of carbon sequestration through biomass crops. This study investigates the carbon and nitrogen sequestration potential of Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita L. Rusby) by examining its aboveground biomass yields at different harvest times (winter and spring) during two consecutive years (2022 & 2023) to determine the optimal harvest time for maximizing both biomass yields as well as carbon and nitrogen contents. In comparison to spring harvests (7.86 t/ha dry matter; 3.94 t/ha carbon; 0.01 t/ha nitrogen), winter harvests regularly yielded higher dry matter yields (9.07 t/ha) as well as larger carbon (4.38 t/ha) and nitrogen (0.04 t/ha) contents. Spring harvests had greater carbon concentrations (50.1%) than winter harvests (48.3%), but winter harvests had much higher nitrogen concentrations (0.40% vs. 0.185%). The yields of dry matter, carbon, and nitrogen in 2022 were somewhat higher than those in 2023, according to year-to-year comparisons. However, these differences were not statistically significant, indicating that seasonal variation was more significant than yearly fluctuations. Overall, the findings show that winter harvests can be targeted when higher yields and nutrient content in biomass are required, and they provide useful information for managing Virginia mallow for biomass production and carbon sequestration.
Keywords
aboveground biomass, carbon content, climate change mitigation, energy crops, nitrogen content, yield
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