Planting Density Effects on Grow Rate, Biometric Parameters, and Biomass Calorific Value of Selected Trees Cultivated as SRC
Department of Systems and Economics of Crop Production, Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation-State Research Institute, Czartoryskich 8, 24-100 Puławy, Poland
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Agriculture 2020, 10(12), 583; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10120583
Received: 7 October 2020
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Revised: 7 November 2020
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Accepted: 25 November 2020
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Published: 26 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations and Perspectives of Industrial and Bioenergy Crops for Bioeconomy Development)
Agricultural land is mostly devoted to food production. Production of biomass is limited, as it competes for land with basic food production. To reduce land loss for growing food, biomass can be grown on marginal lands that are not usable for food production. The density of plantings have to be optimized to maximize yield potential. The presented study compares yield parameters end energy potential of six species of biomass plants (poplar, Siberian elm, black alder, white birch, boxelder maple, silver maple) cultivated in 18 planting densities from 3448 to 51,282 plants per hectare as short rotation coppice (SRC). Biomass yield parameters depended on both cultivated species and planting density. Green mass, dry mass, and shoot diameter was dropping with the increasing planting density for most tested species. Calculated yield of dry mass was dropping with increasing planting density for black alder, increasing for Siberian elm and boxelder maple. White birch and silver maple yields were optimal at moderate planting densities (25,000–30,000). White birch and boxelder maple had the highest average higher heating value (HHV). The optimal density of plantings should be chosen to best suit both the needs of cultivated species and to optimize the most important parameters of produced biomass.
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Keywords:
energy crops; planting density; calorific value; SRC
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MDPI and ACS Style
Berbeć, A.K.; Matyka, M. Planting Density Effects on Grow Rate, Biometric Parameters, and Biomass Calorific Value of Selected Trees Cultivated as SRC. Agriculture 2020, 10, 583. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10120583
AMA Style
Berbeć AK, Matyka M. Planting Density Effects on Grow Rate, Biometric Parameters, and Biomass Calorific Value of Selected Trees Cultivated as SRC. Agriculture. 2020; 10(12):583. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10120583
Chicago/Turabian StyleBerbeć, Adam K., and Mariusz Matyka. 2020. "Planting Density Effects on Grow Rate, Biometric Parameters, and Biomass Calorific Value of Selected Trees Cultivated as SRC" Agriculture 10, no. 12: 583. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10120583
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