BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND DIAMETER GROWTH OF 9 HALF-SIB FAMILIES OF MESQUITE (PROSOPIS-GLANDULOSA VAR GLANDULOSA) AND A FAST-GROWING PROSOPIS-ALBA HALF-SIB FAMILY GROWN IN TEXAS
Ab. Duff et al., BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND DIAMETER GROWTH OF 9 HALF-SIB FAMILIES OF MESQUITE (PROSOPIS-GLANDULOSA VAR GLANDULOSA) AND A FAST-GROWING PROSOPIS-ALBA HALF-SIB FAMILY GROWN IN TEXAS, Forest ecology and management, 67(1-3), 1994, pp. 257-266
In a 10 year field trial involving nine half-sib families of native so
uth Texas mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa) and one fast
growing Prosopis alba half-sib family, 0166, no significant difference
s in biomass productivity were found between native P. glandulosa fami
lies. The biomass productivity of P. alba 0166 was significantly great
er than that of native P. glandulosa families in the first 4 years of
the trial. However, the survival of P. alba 0166 over the 10 year peri
od was 17%, versus 84% for the native P. glandulosa families, owing to
severe freezes in 1983 and 1989. The two P. glandulosa families with
the highest biomass productivities over the 10 year trial were the pro
geny of the two largest mother trees of the original nine. The P. glan
dulosa family from a small mother tree had the lowest biomass producti
vity. The nine native south Texas P. glandulosa families had an averag
e basal diameter growth rate of 1.67 cm year-1 and average dry biomass
productivity of 6.9 t ha-1 year-1. In 1986, a year of average annual
rainfall preceded by a year of high annual rainfall, the mean basal di
ameter growth rate for native P. glandulosa families was 2.83 cm year-
1. These diameter growth rates compare favourably with the diameter gr
owth rates of commercial hardwood timber species grown in the USA.