ABOVEGROUND DENDROMASS ESTIMATION OF JUVENILE PAULOWNIA SP.

Abstract

Species of the genus Paulownia have been introduced to Bulgaria since the beginning of the XXthcentury and their multipurpose uses - as ornamental trees, for wood and biomass production- have been tested ever since. We present a study, which examines the early growth of four Paulowniaclones at southern locations in Bulgaria and derives biometric models for dendromass estimationof juvenile Paulownia trees.The data originated from two experimental plantations established on nursery land using one-yearoldin vitro propagated plant material. Forty six, 1 to 3 year-old saplings from two clones of P. tomentosaand two P. elongata × P. fortunei hybrids were sampled. Their stem biomass was modeledas a function of the breast height tree diameter and total tree height or the stem diameter aloneand a set of goodness-of-fit criteria was applied to select the most adequate among the 29 testedformulations. The regression models were fitted in log-transformed form to the logarithm of thestem biomass and MM correction factor for bias was applied to the back-transformed predictiondata. Two allometric relationships were derived, which adequately assess stem dendromass ofyoung Paulownia sp. from easily measurable tree characteristics. Both models are applicable forstem biomass estimation of juvenile Paulownia trees of diameter up to 5 cm and total height upto 3.5 m.