Evaluation of Genotype and Crop Production Factors On Bioethanol Production From Maize in Central Europe: the Case of Hungary.

The importance of maize processing for industrial purposes increased significantly in Hungary. Maize is currently the single raw material of bioethanol production. The cultivation conditions of Hungary are perfect for maize production, maize is grown on the quarter of cultivable land (1.2 million ha). Hungary still maintains the production prohibition of genetically modified maize in spite of the suggestion of the European Commission, therefore we can produce only regular (non-GMO) maize hybrids for bioethanol purpose.

The objective of investigation is the improvement of the quantity and more efficient production of bioethanol obtained from maize grain by means of choosing the most suitable hybrids and cultivation technology. In order to achieve the objective we examined the quality and quantity parameters of maize hybrids chosen from registered varieties.

At the trial site of the University of Debrecen polyfactorial long-term cultivation trial have been being carried out for two decades. Irrigation and cultivation are in the main block, while fertilization is examined in randomized blocks with four repetitions. The starch content determination of the maize hybrids was carried out with a Foss InfratecTM 1241 type crop analyzing device. Amylose/amylopectin ratio and resistance starch of the maize starch content were determined according to the protocol of Megazyme International Ireland Ltd.

4.51% difference between the maize hybrids can be found with the highest (74.34%) and the lowest (69.82%) starch content. Amylose making up 12.2-30.71%, the component, amylopectin makes up 69.29-87.8% of the starch content of the investigated maize hybrids. Significant difference can be found between the resistant starch content of the examined maize hybrids. The lowest bioethanol production (2880 liter ha^-1) resulted from 0 kg N ha^-1 fertilization level of spring plowing treatment, the highest bioethanol production (5756 liter ha^-1) resulted from 120 kg ha^-1 N fertilization level of winter plowing treatment.