Theme 3: Fast-growing deciduous trees
Last changed: 03 October 2024
With the aid of TC4F, a series of experiments have been established on both forest and farm land, scattered from the county Västerbotten in the north to Skåne in the south. Regeneration and biomass production will be studied in the trials. They will also be valuable sources for studying the effects on flora, fauna and environment.
Rebecka McCarthy, Henrik Böhlenius and Rolf Övergaard demonstrate the experiments with hybrid aspen and poplar. Photo Mats Hannerz.
Poplar and hybrid aspen are two fast-growing deciduous trees with a potential to become valuable complements to the Swedish tree flora. Today, they are cultivated primarily on agricultural land, but both species could also serve as important forest trees.
The regeneration is one of the bottlenecks for successful establishment on forest land. Competing vegetation, browsing, frost and pathogens are examples of problems. The project will study in what way the problems can be overcome by using the right plant type, nutrient addition and vegetation control.
Another issue in the project is whether there is a genetic variation in how attractive different clones are to wildlife browsing. The first step will be to identify if variations exist or not. In the next step, chemical contents will be analysed to explain the possible differences.