Assessment of Eucalyptus Globulus Coppice Yield in the Highland Areas of North Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

One of the old traditional methods of silvicultural management is coppicing. Many woody species produce new shoots successfully after coppicing. Regeneration of forest through coppice can be used for short rotation of tree to produce wood biomass for construction and fuel purposes. There are different levels of coppice practiced in Eucalyptus globulus plantation in the highland areas of North Shewa. However, there was no evidence or study which coppice levels can give high yield. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare yield of E. globulus at different coppice level in the highland areas of North Shewa, Ethiopia. Fifty sampled plots were purposively selected for this study. Volume, mean annual increment, stump height and diameter, stem number and harvesting age were determined from sampled plots. The results revealed that there was no yield difference (p> 0.05) between zero, first, second and third coppice levels. However, stump diameter and number of shoots per stump, stump height were significantly different among 1, 2, 3 coppice levels (p<0.05). Number of shoots were positively correlated with stump diameter and height (r = 0.77, r = 0.72) respectively. Farmers mostly coppice E.globulus from November to December and from April to June. Although statistically there was no yield difference between coppice levels, as farmers described the first coppice has higher yield than other coppice levels. The numbers of shoots per stump were higher in the second and third coppice and this could affect stem quality especially at early stage. Altogether the mean number of stems per hectare was 10812 which is higher than previous studies. Therefore, early silvicultural activities like thinning, early coppice management and pruning has to be done to increase wood stem quality and to promote growth as well.