Identification of the main site factors and management intensity affecting the establishment of Short-Rotation-Coppices (SRC) in Northern Italy through stepwise regression analysis

By S. Bergante, G. Facciotto, G. Minotta. Central European Journal of Biology, 2010

97 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Data collected from 183 poplar and 102 willow SRC experimental plots, located in Central-North Italy, were subjected to stepwise regression analysis to acquire information on the environmental factors affecting plant survival and productivity in the first two-year rotation cycle. Nine Populus ×canadensis Mönch, eight P. deltoids Bartr. clones and four hybrids of Sali× matsudana Koidz were included in analysis. Independent variables were: annual and seasonal water availability (rainfall and irrigation), annual mean air temperature, soil texture, pH, N and organic matter content, planting density and management intensity. Dependent variables were: a) mean annual yield during the first two-year rotation cycle in tons per hectare per year of dry matter (Odt·ha−1·y−1); b) plant survival at the end of the second year from planting (%). Water availability resulted the main variable driving plant survival and biomass production in both poplar and willow clones. Water availability appeared to be the principal factor affecting the establishment of poplar and willow energy plantations in the Po valley. Possible variations in the rainfall regime consequent to climate changes could seriously influence land suitability to SRC. Experimental data also indicate that choice of planting density may increase the biomass yield during the first two-year especially with P. deltoides clones.

Subfields: Agronomy and Crop Science, Forestry, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/edb5fcd251de1ad7d4016ed9a9231fb2b8c5957e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Agronomy and Crop Science

1. M. Verlinden
2. L. Broeckx
3. Benoit Truax
4. J. Fortier
5. D. Gagnon
6. Reinhart Ceulemans

In Forestry

1. Benoit Truax
2. J. Fortier
3. D. Gagnon

In Global and Planetary Change

1. Benoit Truax
2. J. Fortier
3. D. Gagnon
4. Reinhart Ceulemans

Citations in the corpus

• Yield in 8 year-old hybrid poplar plantations on abandoned farmland along climatic and soil fertility gradients (2012, methodology): “Other soil characteristics such as soil texture, pH, drainage, and water availability are also known to strongly affect hybrid poplar growth (Boysen and Strobl, 1991; Tabbush and Beaton, 1998; Stanturf et al., 2001; Bergante et al., 2010; Pinno et al., 2010).”
• Establishment and two-year growth of a bio-energy plantation with fast-growing **Populus** trees in Flanders (Belgium) : effects of genotype and former land use (2012, background): “[22] Bergante S, Facciotto G, Minotta G.”