LIFE CYCLE OF MISCANTHUS × GIGANTEUS (GREEF ET DEU) GROWN IN SOUTHWESTERN SLOVAKIA CONDITIONS

The paper presented herein evaluates the life cycle of perennial grass Miscanthus × giganteus (Greef et Deu), a promising secondgeneration energy crop. The plants of the three-year-old stand (2010-2012) grown on arable land in southwestern Slovakia consisted only from vegetative organs in the first and second year of the cultivation (vegetative phase and phase of stem elongation). In the third growing year (2012), a part of the plants entered the reproductive phase and the phase of seed maturation. From August to September, 7-8% of stems in clumps flowered. Vegetative and productive shoots were identified in the clumps. The ripe seeds after harvesting (126 days) did not germinate at standard germination conditions. The analysis of the characteristics of leaf quantity and location of stomata pointed to the impact of individual life cycle of leaves on the number of stomata. The number of stomata was lower in juvenile leaves compared with mature leaves. Statistically highly significant dependence of leaf surface and leaf age on the number of stomata was found.