Integration of oil-seed crops in Mediterranean agro-pastoral systems to supply bio-fuels to local power industry

The growing of rape seed (Brassica napusvar.oleiferaD.C.) and Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinataA. Braun) as oilseed crop for biodiesel production in southern Europe has gained new interest, following the implementation of policies aimed at increasing the production of locally produced biofuels. The study reported in this paper is part of a feasibility study designed to provide a scientific assessment on the introduction of oil seed crops in the context of the Mediterranean agro-pastoral systems of central Sardinia. Locally, the oil seed demand is from a 34 MW electric power station recently installed by Biopower Sardegna Spa, who funded the study, to supply the local industrial site. The overall objective of the experiments is also to build a dataset to adapt CROPGRO model of DSSAT (Joneset al., 2003) to rapeseed. In this paper, we will provide preliminary data from the field experiments on rapeseed and an overview of the research design.