Abstract
Controlling competing vegetation during early growth is one of the most important practices for the successful establishment of poplar plantations. Today, most poplar plantations in temperate regions are established on abandoned marginal agricultural land where competing vegetation is usually present during the first years after planting. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine how the growth of two kinds of poplar planting materials, un-rooted cuttings and bare-rooted seedlings was influenced by different vegetation control and soil preparation practices. Across treatments, un-rooted cuttings grew more rapidly than the bare-rooted seedlings. Our results also show that mulching with a degradable carpet or permanent polyethylene plastic increased seedling growth to a similar extent and more strongly in the cases of no treatment (in control plots). In addition, the results suggest that soil preparation in the mulched area favored seedling growth, but this effect was restricted to the first year after planting. These findings indicate that optimal practices for establishing poplar plantations on former agricultural land include planting un-rooted cuttings in prepared soil and mulching.
Highlights
There is increasing global interest in replacing fossil fuels with alternative renewable energy sources [1].One method of producing large amounts of renewable energy rapidly is to plant poplars, which provide woody biomass that can be used to generate energy in several ways, including direct combustion for heating or generating electricity and ethanol production [2]
Perm-plast sp treatments resulted in greater height growth of un-rooted cuttings than the mechanical vegetation control treatment (Mech) treatment during the first year, but there was no significant difference in this respect at the end of the second year (Figure 1A,C)
We investigated the effects of several vegetation control treatments, with and without soil preparation, on the establishment of two types of poplar planting materials, un-rooted cuttings and rooted plants, on abandoned agricultural land
Summary
There is increasing global interest in replacing fossil fuels with alternative renewable energy sources [1].One method of producing large amounts of renewable energy rapidly is to plant poplars, which provide woody biomass that can be used to generate energy in several ways, including direct combustion for heating or generating electricity and ethanol production [2]. Poplar plantations are being established in substantial areas in temperate regions of the world, mainly on abandoned agricultural land [3,4,5] At these sites competing vegetation is present and/or establishes at the time of planting or during the first following years, which is a critical period for the success of poplar plantations because. In the Nordic area, the critical establishment period for conifers is up to 3–4 years after planting [8,9], and vegetation control should be maintained in poplar plantations for up to 3–4 years to maximize growth [10] This can be done chemically, mechanically, by tilling or harrowing, or by mulching with wood chips, plastic carpets, or other materials [10,11]. The relative effects of using a permanent or degradable mulching material on poplar growth are largely unknown
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