BIOMASS AND NUTRIENT CONTENT OF A SHORT-R OTATION COPPICE OF BEAUPRE POPLARS PLANTED ON A NON-ALLUVIAL ACIDIC SOIL IMPROVED BY FERTILIZATION

Improvement by fertilization was tested on the production of a shea ro tation coppiced (SRC) stand of Beaupre poplar in Luthenay-Uxeloup fore st (Nievre-France). Several treatments bringing P, NPK or NPKCa were c ompared to a control without any improvement in a bloc experiment. The improvement of production was significant in all the treaments when c ompared to the control. NPKCa treatment was the best one. The absolute value of production is too low for an industrial development of short rotation forestry in these ecological conditions where water availabi lity during the vegetation period seemed to be the primary limiting fa ctor. The real potential of the site was not completly identified owin g to the bad conditions for stand installation and the dry climate dur ing the 1980s. Efficiency of nutrients for dry matter production in th is short rotation coppice was more important than in the other stands previously investigated. Soil mineral enrichment was already apparent at the end of the first rotation. It will be necessary to test a ferti lization restoring the nutrients drained during harvesting, on the pro duction of the next generation.