Industrial Crops and Products 50 (2013) 312–324 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journa l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Evaluation of European developed fibre hemp genotypes (Cannabis sativa L.) in semi-arid Mediterranean environment Salvatore L. Cosentino a,∗ , Ezio Riggi b , Giorgio Testa a , Danilo Scordia a , Venera Copani a a Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agrarie e Alimentari – DISPA, University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy b CNR-ISAFOM – National Research Council ITALY – Institute for Agricultural and Forest System in the Mediterranean, Str.le V. Lancia, Blocco Palma I, Zona Industriale, 95121 Catania, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 29 March 2013 Received in revised form 26 June 2013 Accepted 21 July 2013 Keywords: Fibre hemp Cannabis sativa Mediterranean environment Water use efficiency Net photosynthesis Radiation use efficiency a b s t r a c t In the present study two experiments, namely, (i) the adaptation and productivity of different hemp genotypes, both monoecious and dioecious, developed in Central-Northern and Southern Europe, and (ii) the water consumption, water use efficiency (WUE), radiation use efficiency (RUE), leaf transpiration and net photosynthesis of Futura 75 hemp cultivar were studied. Experiments were carried out in Southern Italy in two subsequent year periods. Sowing occurred in May in both years. Results show that fibre hemp, both monoecious and dioecious, performed well giving high productivity; however, fibre hemp needs almost 250 mm of water for monoecious early genotypes and 450 mm for dioecious late genotypes. Higher biomass and stem dry yields were achieved with genotypes developed for Central-Southern environments, such as the dioecious Dioica 88 and Fibranova. In order to estimate the water consumption and WUE of Futura 75, four water regimes (I 3 , I 2 , I 1 and I 0 corresponding respectively to 100%, 50%, 25% ETm restoration and irrigation until crop establishment) were tested. Futura 75 was strongly affected by water shortage and the WUE ranged between 2.73 g l -1 in good water conditions and 3.45 g l -1 in water stress conditions. The highest light extinction coefficient (k) was observed in water stressed (0.58) than in good watered conditions (0.40). The water stress reduced RUE, LAI and therefore aboveground biomass yield. Air temperature strongly influenced net photosynthesis with an optimum at 24 ◦ C; higher and lower values of air temperature led to a decrease of net photosynthesis. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There are big concerns for farming systems in the Mediterranean area where climate is indeed characterized by hot and dry sum- mers and water shortage is the main constraint limiting yield of major crops (Araus et al., 2002; Cosentino et al., 2012a). In addition, several million hectares of arable land are continuously ploughed to grow cereals or annual forage crops. This causes the soil to be very exposed to water and wind erosion, and results in a decline of organic matter and fertility as well as weed, pest and diseases accu- mulation. Introductions of different crops in the common rotation schemes and/or alternative crops with high tolerance to hot tem- peratures and limited water demands have to be urgently identified and adapted. In this respect, as annual crop, fibre hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) may fit well into crop rotations, where it may serve to control ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 95 234411; fax: +39 95 234449. E-mail addresses: cosentin@unict.it, cosentin@hotmail.com (S.L. Cosentino). weeds, diseases, and pests (Venendaal et al., 1997; Robson et al., 2002; Ranalli and Venturi, 2004). It has been reported that crops following hemp in the rotation (e.g. cereals autumn–winter) will significantly benefit both for the action of secondary roots that facilitate the structuring of the soil and for the important mass of organic residues left on the ground (Venturi and Amaducci, 1999). Fibre hemp is well-known for its industrial and textile appli- cations and can be grown in a wide range of environmental conditions, from Northern to Southern Europe (Zegada-Lizarazu et al., 2010). While fibre hemp has been extensively reported as raw material for industrial applications (Bledzki et al., 2006), its use as an energy crop, however, is relatively new. In view of second-generation feedstock for ethanol production, fibre hemp could take a leading role because of its high cellulose content (∼60% w/w) and low lignin content (7–8% w/w) (Struik et al., 2000) com- pared with dedicated lignocellulosic bioenergy crops, such as giant reed (Scordia et al., 2011, 2012, 2013) and Saccharum spontaneum (Scordia et al., 2010). The appropriate site-specific selection of genotypes, however, plays an important role in stabilizing and optimizing yields. Late 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.07.059