The main target of the research was to compare the growth dynamics of woody plants in relation to their age, specifically in individuals up to 10 years after planting. Five fast-growing species ...(Fraxinus excelsior, Populus alba, Populus nigra, Ulmus laevis, Ulmus minor) and four control species (Acer campestre, Carpinus betulus, Prunus avium, Tilia cordata) were selected. The model site is part of the regional biocentre in Brno. It is a warm area with an increased groundwater level. The planting took place in 2011. Evaluation was done at the turn of 2016/2017 and included measuring the following attributes: the overall height of the specimen, the annual increment of the terminal shoot and the annual increment of six lateral shoots. The highest average values were observed in Populus nigra which, in the context of close results of individual specimens, can be attributed the overall highest growth dynamics. The average terminal shoot increment exceeded 50 cm in all species except for Tilia cordata; in Populus alba and Populus nigra it exceeded 100 cm. Generally, the values of Carpinus betulus, Prunus avium and Tilia cordata were mutually comparable and at the same time lower than the values of woody plants labelled as fast growing. The results for Acer campestre were close to the category of fast-growing species. It follows from the measured figures that Populus nigra showed the highest growth dynamics, Tilia cordata the lowest. On the whole, the species classified as fast growing (Fraxinus excelsior, Populus alba, Populus nigra, Ulmus laevis, Ulmus minor) reached higher results than trees with a standard speed of growth (Carpinus betulus, Prunus avium, Tilia cordata). An exception was Acer campestre which was with its results closer to Fraxinus excelsior and Ulmus laevis. For instance, the comparison of the average height of the slowest growing representative of fast-growing woody plants (Fraxinus excelsior 2.81 m) with the fastest growing species from the second category (Prunus avium 2.51 m) showed a difference of 30 cm in favour of the fast-growing category. The average height of Acer campestre amounted to 3.27 m. When comparing the maximum length of annual terminal shoot increment, the fast-growing woody plants exceeded 146 cm (Fraxinus excelsior), whereas in the control plants a maximum of 103 cm was reached (Carpinus betulus). The maximum length in Acer campestre was 170 cm. Despite this, only one of the used resources (Belke and Gaida, 1991) ranks this species among fast-growing woody plants.
As the land area of short‐rotation coppice (SRC) increases, their soil physical impacts have to be evaluated. The objective of this study was to detect the effects of long‐term SRC with poplar and ...willow on the vertical distribution of soil physical properties (bulk density, water retention, penetration resistance) and on solute transport patterns. An 18‐year‐old SRC located in northeastern Germany was compared to an adjacent continuous arable cropping system by means of soil sampling, penetrologger measurements and dye tracer experiments. The topsoil's bulk density was significantly lower under SRC than under cropland. This effect was especially pronounced in the uppermost 10 cm, where also the air capacity and the plant‐available water content were higher under SRC. The penetration resistance in 25–50 cm depth was reduced under SRC compared to the cropland, indicating a loosening of the plough pan. Dye tracer experiments showed that the importance of preferential flow was higher under SRC due to tree root channels and an increasing colonisation with invertebrates. SRC has ecologically advantageous effects on soil physical properties of the topsoil, however, combined with an enhanced risk of preferential solute transport upon application of agrochemicals.
Plantations have many advantages when compared to natural or semi-natural forests, such as shortening production cycles, the production of wood with specific characteristics, and near-market ...production concentrations. The intensive development of this form of industrial wood production is practiced all over the world. The wood industry in Poland struggles in recent years, with a large shortage of wood. The deficit of wood has been accumulated for several years and is steadily increasing. One of the possibilities to change this trend can be development of fast-growing trees plantations. The main aim of this study was to determine the potential of land in Poland, which could be used for the cultivation of fast-growing trees plantations. The analyses took into account the area and marginal agricultural land. The potential plantation land areas were determined for poplar cultivar “Hybrid 275” and European larch (Larix decidua Mill.). The results show a possibility to generate a considerable area that can be developed into plantations of fast-growing trees in Poland. According to the analyses carried out for the purpose of this study, with only 5% use of the sown area and 5% use of forest lands, as well as the boscage (wooded land and bushy land), it is possible to obtain approximately 0.6 MM ha of land for fast-growing tree plantations. In the case of planting 50% of these lands with larch and 50% with poplar, and if a 50% capacity of the plantation is assumed, it will be possible to obtain nearly 6 MM m3 of wood per year.
The main objective of this study was to reveal variations in the wood structure and to define the location of the boundary between juvenile and mature wood Larix decidua Mill. from fast growing tree ...plantations. To reach these findings, the samples of wood from four short-rotation plantations in Central Europe (Poland) were selected and compared. The procedure used to determine the demarcation point between juvenile and mature wood resulted in strong correlations between the width of growth rings and the initial cambial age. It was found that the structure of wood from fast-growing trees differs from commercially available timber. The wood derived from plantations revealed wider annual rings than wood from natural forests. The analysis of the variability of wood structure resulted in defining the location of the boundary between juvenile and mature wood. Based on the analysis of structure of annual rings, the boundary of juvenile wood in fast-growing larch is placed between the 12th and 15th annual ring. The investigated material contained high proportions of juvenile wood, which makes up more than 70% of trunk volume. On the microscopic level, no visible changes, indicating the presence of a mature wood zone, were found.
With this contribution, an updated picture of the rapid expansion of Leucaena leucocephala subsp. glabrata in Sicily is provided. On the one hand, this is a quite worrying sign, as this woody species ...figures among the world’s worst invasive alien species. On the other hand, the species shows interesting potential for production purposes (for wood, biomass and for feeding livestock), also considering its nitrogen fixation ability. Consequently, the two opposite options to cope with this species, i.e. cultivation and control/eradication, should accurately take into account the possible uses as well as its invasive behaviou.
A three-year experiment was conducted to investigate willows of Salix × smithiana Willd. (S. smithiana) phytoremediation of soil contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) derived by fly ...ash from biomass combustion. The total removal of ash PAHs in phytoremediation treatment was 50.9% after three consecutive years while the ash PAHs were decreased in natural attenuated soil by 9.9% in the end of the experiment. The ash and spiked PAHs with low and medium molecular weight were susceptible to be removed in higher rates than high molecular weight PAHs. Lower bioconcentration factors of individual PAHs were observed in willow shoots than in roots. The estimated relative direct removal of PAHs by S. smithiana in phytoremediation was significantly lower than 1% suggesting that the contribution of S. smithiana to take up PAHs from soil was negligible and the degradation of PAHs occurred mainly in soil. Phytoremediation using S. smithiana could be seen as a feasible and environmentally friendly approach of arable soils impacted by a PAH contaminated biomass fly ash.
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•Fly ash PAHs were removed by 50.9% after three years of soil phytoremediation.•Spiked PAHs were prone to be removed from soil similarly as ash PAHs.•Low and medium molecular weight PAHs were found in willows shoots.•Uptake of PAHs by willow plants from soil was significantly lower than 1%.
Manuscript as the first one investigated the Salix × smithiana Willd. phytoremediation treatment of soil impacted by 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in fly ash of biomass incineration during three-year experiment.
The research on Paulownia cultivation and wood properties is up to date in many countries. However, there are no data on the properties of this wood defined on a microscale, on microtome samples. The ...main aim of this study was to find the best valorization path for the wood of Paulownia Shang Tong Hybrid F1 from an extensively cultivated plantation established in April 2017 in Poland by determining the tensile strength, the wood density, the strength-to-density ratio, and the modulus of elasticity on a cross-section of the trunk. The wood was collected from extensive plantation, where production is based on the natural resources of the habitat and ambient weather conditions, which is the opposite to the intensive cultivation model, which is the recommended model of Paulownia cultivation. The results of this study show that the mean density of the analyzed samples was approximately 210 kg/m
when the mean value of the modulus of elasticity (MOE) was approximately 2400 MPa. The mean result for the tensile strength ratio to density was 11.25 km. In the case of anatomical structure, the increasing trend with age was noticed both in fiber and vessel characteristics. The study results provide unique data worldwide about Paulownia wood's properties based on a cross-section of the trunk, from plantations cultivated in conditions which are not recommended by seedlings producers. The obtained data indicate that the Paulownia wood (examined) from the cultivation in this study has a technical quality similar to that of model-intensive agricultural plantations.
This study aimed to investigate and compare the qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics of Acacia mangium and Acacia hybrid in plantation forests in Vietnam. The qualitative and ...quantitative anatomical characteristics were evaluated according to the International Association of Wood Anatomists list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. In terms of qualitative features, A. mangium had a rough, hard, and fissured bark surface with a golden brown to dark brown color, whereas A. hybrid had a smooth and slightly scaly bark surface with greenish brown to greyish brown color, and yellowish white to pale white spots. Moreover, the heartwood–sapwood color and microscopic features of both species were identical. In terms of quantitative features, A. mangium had higher values in the tangential diameter of vessel lumina, vessel per square millimeter, ray number per millimeter, fiber length, and fiber wall thickness than A. hybrid, whereas A. hybrid had a higher ray height and lumen diameter than A. mangium. Thus, it is suggested that bark morphology and some quantitative anatomical characteristics can be used for identification and evaluation of wood quality between A. mangium and A. hybrid growing in Vietnam.
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