Commercially Grown Short Rotation Coppice Willow in Denmark: Biomass Production and Factors Affecting Production
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Commercially Grown Short Rotation Coppice Willow in Denmark: Biomass Production and Factors Affecting Production Thomas Nord-Larsen & Lisbeth Sevel & Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen
Published online: 30 August 2014 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract The objectives of this study were to estimate biomass production in commercially grown short rotation coppice willow in Denmark and to investigate effects of site and management factors on willow yield. Biomass production assessed by non-destructive sampling on 296 plots from 25 plantations was analyzed using a mixed model approach. Average production in the stands varied between 2.4 and 15.1 odt ha−1 year−1, and average second rotation growth (8.2 odt ha−1 year−1) was significantly higher than first rotation growth (6.5 odt ha−1 year−1). Annual production was significantly correlated with clone, soil texture, soil drainage, fertilization, weeds, rotation number, and shoot age. Further, interactions between clone and soil drainage as well as between clone and soil texture were significant, indicating the importance of a site-specific choice of clones. Keywords Salix . Weeds . Fertilization . Soil texture . Soil drainage . Rotation number . Shoot age . Clone . Allometry
Introduction Ambitious targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and a need for increased energy security have spurred an increased demand for renewable sources of energy. Within the EU, the countries are mandated to procure at least 20 % of the total energy supply and 10 % of the energy in the transport sector from renewables such as biomass by 2020 [1]. Projections T. Nord-Larsen : K. Raulund-Rasmussen Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark L. Sevel (*) Dalgasgroup, Klostermarken 12, 8800 Viborg, Denmark e-mail: [email protected]
within the EU predict that biomass will be a major contributor to reach the 2020 targets [1]. However, this future expansion in the use of biomass for bioenergy calls for new resources and dedicated energy crops on farmlands have been suggested as a source with a large potential to increase biomass resources [2–4]. Few dedicated energy crops are currently grown commercially within the EU. Among them, short rotation coppice (SRC) willow has been grown for bioenergy particularly in Sweden since the 1980s and is currently one of the most developed energy crops in Europe [5, 6]. Numerous field trials have been established to identify factors affecting SRC willow biomass production, including the choice of species and clone [7–10], rotation length [11–13], plant density [11, 13–15], weed control [16], climatic conditions [17], availability of soil nutrients and water [18–23], and fertilization [18, 24–28]. Across these trials, great variation in productivity has been reported, ranging from less than 5 odt ha−1 year−1 to more than 20 odt ha−1 year−1. The high biomass production reported from experimental trials is responsible for elevated expectati
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