Experiments

AGAVE FOR BIOMASS

Participants: Don Chambers (AusAgave), Ignacio del Real (AusAgave), Joe Holtum (JCU)

In 2004, Ausagave imported Agave tequiliana from Mexico with an aim to test its potential as a tropical biomass crop. Following quarantine and development of a tissue-culture protocol, a trial was planted in north Queensand at Kalamia, near Ayr.

The trial demonstrated that rain-fed A. tequilana could grow successfully in the north Queensland environment at a productivity suitable for commercial farming (Chambers and Holtum 2010, Holtum et al 2011, Corbin et al 2015). AusAgave-imported Agave is being tested for the production of biomass or ethanol in Queensland (at Walkerman and Eden Lassie) and in Western Australia (Brickhouse Station near Gascoyne).