Current issue: 58(5)
In the first place the term short-rotation forestry is being used in the sense of intensive tree growing during a short rotation time using reproduction by coppice shoots from broad-leaved tree material which has been specially bred for this purpose, or of producing fast-growing varieties from planted stock during the course of somewhat longer rotation time (maximum 20 years). However, short-rotation forestry as such has already a long history.
In the Fertile Crescent in ancient Egypt grew no tree species suitable for short-rotation production, but reeds and bulrushes were used for the same purpose as willow-twigs, e.g. wickerwork or binding. At least in the Fertile Crescent reed harvesting using a rotation of one year was practiced already very long ago. The earliest information about coppice-shoot cultivation is found in Greek literature, but it was the Romans who developed short-rotation forestry based on the trees’ capacity of reproducing through coppice shoots into an extensive economic activity. Willows were by far the most important species used. Twigs intended for wickerwork were harvested once a year and thicker material, to be used for support and in basket framework, every fourth year. Chestnut and oak were used for the production of slightly thicker poles employing a longer rotation. Cypress poles were produced from seedlings using a rotation time of 12–13 years. Roman scholars give us plenty of information concerning the tending of plantations in short-rotation forestry.
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The effect of spacing on the first-year yield and height increment of Alnus incana (L.) Moench, Populus tremula L. x Populus tremuloides Michx. (Populus x wettsteinii), Salix ’Aquatica Gigantea’, and Salix phylicifolia L. was studied at the Arctic Circle Agricultural Experimental Station in Northern Finland. S. ’Aquatica Gigantea’ gave yields which were twice as high as those of the other species in the study. The highest yields were of the order of 60 tons per hectare (fresh yield including foliage). The annual height growth in S. ’Aquatica Gigantea’ was about 100 cm, in the others about 30–50 cm. S. ’Aquatica Gigantea’ had a maximal height growth when the distance between the seedlings was 25 cm.
The PDF includes a summary in English.