Bulletin of Forestry Science / Volume 8 / Issue 2 / Pages 51-59
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Effects of spacing control on dendromass yield in short rotation hybrid poplar plantation

Dávid Heilig, Bálint Heil & Gábor Kovács

Correspondence

Abstract

Nowadays forest plantations have a growing role in wood production. The area of SRF plantations is growing in Europe, but there is only little information about how traditional forestry interventions, like thinning affects yield in the first couple of years after establishment on short and midi rotation plantations. The aim of this paper is to see if spacing controls result in higher yields. In 2011 an experimental plantation was established in the Dejtár 4 CS forest compartment, where the same intensity spacing control was used but at a different age on ‘AF2 to see how it affects the yield. For this purpose, dendrometrical measurements were completed for 6 continuous growing seasons. There is no difference in the aspect of dendromass inventory between the controlled and not controlled plots nor in the case of interventions at different ages during the examination period. Following the year of spacing control, increment was higher than in the last growing season and then in the control plots. Despite having no difference between the yields, the dimensions of trees show difference in spacing controlled plots and in the control ones. This means that the spacing control mostly affects the quality of wood.

Keywords: short rotation forestry, spacing, yield estimation