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Geographic information systems-based land suitability assessment for switchgrass cultivation in marginal lands: a case study for İzmir-Turkey

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Fulya Aydın-Kandemir at Ege University
Fulya Aydın-Kandemir
Hasan Sarptaş at Ege University
Hasan Sarptaş
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Energy crop cultivation is considered the main factor in the rapid increase in the share of biomass energy in the future global energy supply. However, the most critical issue for the cultivation of energy crops will be establishing sustainable energy cropping systems and protecting agricultural areas devoted to food and feed crops. Therefore, the present study aims to identify key criteria for energy crop cultivation areas and to develop a Geographic information systems (GISs)- and multi-criteria evaluation model (MCE)-based methodology. This study employs a GIS-based MCE technique, including fuzzy standardization, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and weighted overlay for analyzing land suitability to switchgrass cultivation for the case study in İzmir-Turkey. The criteria identified in this study include climatic parameters, soil characteristics, topography, and land restrictions for land-use compatibility. Climate data were employed by TerrSet’s Crop Climate Suitability Model to determine the climatic suitability of switchgrass in the city. Subsequently, an assessment model of land suitability for switchgrass cultivation was developed by integrating AHP in the ArcGIS environment. Here, the highest specific weight was attained for climatic suitability (0.22), and the lowest was found for elevation (0.094). Significantly, 69.4% (40,725 ha) of the potential cultivation area was moderately suitable and higher, and 30.5% (17,896 ha) was low suitable for switchgrass cultivation. Therefore, it was concluded that the applied methodology could be a practical approach for sustainable biofuels production and environmental protection and can be employed for different energy crops and regions. Graphical abstract
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Vol.:(0123456789)
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Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (2023) 25:781–797
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-022-02422-x
ORIGINAL PAPER
Geographic information systems‑based land suitability assessment
forswitchgrass cultivation inmarginal lands: acase study
forİzmir‑Turkey
FulyaAydın‑Kandemir1 · HasanSarptaş1
Received: 2 February 2022 / Accepted: 10 October 2022 / Published online: 22 October 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022
Abstract
Energy crop cultivation is considered the main factor in the rapid increase in the share of biomass energy in the future global
energy supply. However, the most critical issue for the cultivation of energy crops will be establishing sustainable energy
cropping systems and protecting agricultural areas devoted to food and feed crops. Therefore, the present study aims to iden-
tify key criteria for energy crop cultivation areas and to develop a Geographic information systems (GISs)- and multi-criteria
evaluation model (MCE)-based methodology. This study employs a GIS-based MCE technique, including fuzzy standardiza-
tion, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and weighted overlay for analyzing land suitability to switchgrass cultivation for the
case study in İzmir-Turkey. The criteria identified in this study include climatic parameters, soil characteristics, topography,
and land restrictions for land-use compatibility. Climate data were employed by TerrSet’s Crop Climate Suitability Model
to determine the climatic suitability of switchgrass in the city. Subsequently, an assessment model of land suitability for
switchgrass cultivation was developed by integrating AHP in the ArcGIS environment. Here, the highest specific weight
was attained for climatic suitability (0.22), and the lowest was found for elevation (0.094). Significantly, 69.4% (40,725ha)
of the potential cultivation area was moderately suitable and higher, and 30.5% (17,896ha) was low suitable for switchgrass
cultivation. Therefore, it was concluded that the applied methodology could be a practical approach for sustainable biofuels
production and environmental protection and can be employed for different energy crops and regions.
Graphical abstract
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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... Because it tolerates a wide range of environmental conditions such as drought, heat, and poor soil conditions and provides reasonable yield with low fertilizer and water inputs compared to conventional crops (Yucel et al., 2022). Features of the C 4 photosynthetic pathway, high CO 2 fixation potential into sugar, remarkable biologic productivity in a short growth period, tolerance to heat and soil water deficit, and high adaptability to a wide range of environments suggest that sorghum is one of the most promising future crop for stressful environmental conditions (Aydın-Kandemir and Sarptaş, 2022). Sweet sorghum also reported as a low vulnerable crop to climate change when sustainable cropping methods applied in semi-arid tropics (MacCarthy et al., 2021). ...
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