WALNUT, Calif., Sept. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc.
(OTCQB: VSPC) today announced that the first harvest of Giant King
Grass in the Imperial Valley of California, was completed on September 2, 2014.
At the University of California site
in Holtville, California, two
planting methods were compared. One is to plant single nodes that
each grow into individual plants, and the other method is to plant
whole Giant King Grass stalks continuously end to end similar to
the way that sugarcane is planted. The first method results in
individual plants that each have some space around them. The whole
stalk method results in a dense linear row of plants each spaced
about 6 inches apart.
Two different harvesting times are also being tested. The first
is to harvest at about 15 – 18 feet tall at about six months old
for bioenergy applications such as direct combustion in a power
plant, energy pellets or cellulosic biofuels. The second is to
harvest at about 6 – 8 feet tall about every two months for animal
feed and to produce biogas for anaerobic digestion. This harvest
was at 8 feet tall. The Giant King Grass was planted at the top of
rows and irrigation was provided by flooding the inter-spacing
furrows.
Five separate representative sections of each planting type
(replicates) were harvested by hand and fully characterized.
Samples were also sent for forage analysis. This is the first
harvest, and subsequent harvests are expected to be more frequent
and produce higher yields.
From visual observation and measurements, the whole stalk
planting initially showed earlier germination and the plant height
was higher. The measured yield of the first harvest of whole stalk
planting was 26 wet tons per acre. The plants were approximately 8
feet tall to tip of leaf.
From observations and measurements, the individual plants had a
significant number of skips where the plants failed to germinate.
In the future, any skips will be filled in by transplants or
replanting. Nevertheless, the canopy was closed quickly and the
individual plants were a bit taller and had thicker stalks. The
measured yield of the first harvest of individual plants was 36 wet
tons per acre.
Both yields are excellent for the first harvest. Both will be
harvested again in about two months. It is expected that there will
be 4 to 5 harvests per year in the Imperial Valley.
From the preliminary data, it appears that the individual plants
produce 38% higher yield than planting whole stalks. This
conclusion needs to be verified by repeated harvests, but this is a
significant finding. Both were planted on the same time and
irrigated and fertilized identically.
After the measurements, the remaining Giant King Grass was cut
by a swather and removed from the field to allow the regrowth to
begin.
VIASPACE has a research collaboration with the University of California Agriculture and Natural
Resources Division (UCANR). UCANR is the division of the
University of California that operates
the Cooperative Extension Program and nine Research and Extension
Centers that link California
farmers and ranchers to agricultural and veterinary researchers at
UC campuses. VIASPACE is collaborating with the 255 acre
Desert Research and Extension Center, located in Holtville, California.
VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen,
reported, "It was 108 degrees when I arrived in Holtville last Monday evening at 6 PM. I am pleased that Giant King Grass grows
well in this extremely hot and dry environment. Giant King Grass is planted in the worst soil at the
University of California site, and
still the results are good. This demonstrates that marginal land
can be used for Giant King Grass. The high yields were as
anticipated, and I expect that the results from the second harvest
will even be better. Giant King
Grass will be an excellent commercial animal feed crop in
the Imperial Valley of California.
We see similar results -- even a little better-- in Nicaragua."
VIASPACE is growing Giant King Grass in 11 locations in 8
countries on 4 continents, and it has been extensively tested by
third party laboratories for electricity production, biogas,
biofuel, pellet and animal feed applications.
Pictures from the University of
California site are available on the VIASPACE Facebook page
www.facebook.com/viaspaceinc.
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE grows renewable Giant
King™ Grass as a low-carbon fuel for clean
electricity generation; for environmentally friendly energy
pellets; and as a feedstock for bio-methane production and for
green cellulosic biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant
King Grass is a proprietary, high
yield, dedicated biomass energy crop. Giant King Grass when it is cut frequently at 4 to 9
feet tall is also excellent animal feed. The USDA granted approval
for planting Giant King Grass throughout the US and cooperates in
exporting by performing the required inspections and issuing the
phytosanitary certificate needed for import into foreign countries.
Giant King Grass is being grown in
California, Arizona, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South
Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Guyana and Jamaica. For more
information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr.
Jan Vandersande, Director of
Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Information in
this news release includes forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements relate to future events or future
performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks
outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2013, and
other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.
SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.