How Single or Double Cut Systems Can Influence Switchgrass Productivity and Ash Content

markedly in the two first years. Surprisingly, for L, FC was not significantly different from the LC in two years out of three. That would suggest the possibility to perform the harvest during full summertime thus to ease the biomass drying into the field. Anyway, despite the favorable weather conditions, it has to be underlined that after only four years (including establishment year) L showed a strong decrease of productivity in FC, likely due to the less mineral translocation to rhizomes with lower vigour of plants. Therefore additional trials are needed to assess the opportunity to harvest switchgrass during summertime. Moreover, the ash content was found to be higher both in FC and SC cut with respect to LC, therefore an overall better quality of biomass could be expected from a post-winter harvest.