Productivity and chemical composition of wood tissues of short rotation willow coppice cultivated on arable land

Abstract

In the period 19961999 field trial was performed in Obory near Kwidzyn on heavy textured Fluvisols. The experiment was aimed to determine yield, chemical composition, heat value of wood of six genotypes of willow coppice in relation to cutting frequency and on determining the costs and profitability of willow production on arable land for purposes of energy generation. Yield of wood dry matter in one-year cutting cycle amounted to 14.09 t.ha 1 .year 1 and significantly increased to 16.05 and 21.55 t.ha 1 .year 1 when harvesting was performed in two and three years cycle, respectively. The highest yield was found for Salix viminalis 082 form cut in three years cycle and it amounted to 26.44 t.ha 1 .year 1 . Stems of Salix sp. cut every three years showed the lowest water content (46.05%), high heat value 19.56 MJ.kg 1 dry matter and the highest content of cellulose (55.94%), lignins (13.79%) and hemicelluloses (13.96%). High yielding potential of Salix sp. and high content of cellulose and lignin in wood make this crop very prosperous as a feedstock for bioenergy production. The highest profit from the willow plantation was obtained in case of harvest every three years at 578.76 EUR.ha 1 .year 1 .

Comparison of Different Wood Species as Raw Materials for Bioenergy

“…These values were in accordance with the values from our previous studies [7,9], and with the values obtained by Szczukowski et al [26], and Tharakan et al, [27], approx. 19 MJ/kg.…”

Willow biomass production under conditions of low-input agriculture on marginal soils

“…The average willow yield reported from experimental areas in Poland ranged from 10 to 12 Mg ODM ha À1 year À1 (Faber and Kuś, 2007;Kuś et al, 2008;Stolarski, 2009;Szczukowski et al, 2002;Tworkowski et al, 2006). The yield reported for regular plantations is generally lower and ranges from 4 to 10 Mg ODM ha À1 year À1 .…”

Ecological benefits provided by alley cropping systems for production of woody biomass in the temperate region: a review

“…Aylott et al (2008) reported average dry matter yields for different poplar and willow clones of 4.9-10.7 Mg DM ha -1 year -1 using data from a 49-site SRC yield trial network in the UK. For different willow clones in northern Poland, Szczukowski et al (2002) reported average growth increments between 14.2 and 21.7 Mg DM ha -1 year -1 . Other authors reported between 6 and 12 Mg DM ha -1 year -1 for willow and poplar on average fertile soils in eastern Germany (Bemmann et al 2007;Scholz et al 2004;Werner et al 2004).…”