Impact of fertilization on the mineral nutrition and yield of Salix triandra x Salix viminalis and Robinia pseudoacacia L. bioenergy crops

Abstract

Willow was cultivated as an energy crop in a field experiment. The brown forest soil was treated with an inorganic fertilizer (ammonium nitrate−AN: 100 kg ha-1) or with various organic or mineral soil amendments (municipal biocompost–MBC: 20 t ha−1; municipal sewage sludge compost–MSSC: 15 t ha−1; rhyolite tuff–RT: 30 t ha−1; willow ash−WA: 600 kg ha−1), or their combinations (AN+MBC; AN+RT; AN+WA, MSSC+WA) in four replications. Nineteen months after the soil treatments the macroelement-rich amendments (MBC, MSSC) enhanced the harvested fresh shoot yield most significantly (up to 41% as compared to the untreated control), and also the shoot diameter and shoot height of the willow plants. Most of the treatments enhanced the uptake of N (9.8-23.5%) and K in willow leaves, but the concentrations of P, Mg, Ca, Fe and Zn in the leaves were reduced. The toxic element (As, Cd, Pb) accumulation of willow shoots was negligible. In a 4-year field experiment the effects of the mineral fertilizers AN and AN+calcium-magnesium carbonate (CMC) were studied on the mineral nutrition of the leaves and wood yield of black locust trees cultivated as an energy crop. The brown forest soil was treated with 300 kg ha−1 annual doses of these fertilizers as top-dressing in June 2009, May 2010 and May 2011. Both fertilizers caused a three to four times increase in the nitrate content of the upper soil soon after their application in June. By the end of the vegetation period (in December) the nitrate concentration in the soil was similar to that in the control plots. The nitrogen content of the leaf stalks (petioles) and leaves, however, was only slightly higher in the treated plots. As a trend, fertilization increased the phosphorus and reduced the calcium uptake in the leaf stalks and leaves, while the magnesium content was not influenced. In March 2012, when the whole trees were harvested, 22% or 28% higher aboveground fresh shoot weight was detected in the AN or AN+CMC treatments than in the control.