PRODUCTION PHYSIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF POPULUS SPECIES AND THEIR HYBRIDS GROWN UNDER SHORT-ROTATION .2. BIOMASS COMPONENTS AND HARVEST INDEX OF HYBRID AND PARENTAL SPECIES CLONES
Ge. Scarasciamugnozza et al., PRODUCTION PHYSIOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF POPULUS SPECIES AND THEIR HYBRIDS GROWN UNDER SHORT-ROTATION .2. BIOMASS COMPONENTS AND HARVEST INDEX OF HYBRID AND PARENTAL SPECIES CLONES, Canadian journal of forest research, 27(3), 1997, pp. 285-294
Growth and biomass components were studied during 4 consecutive years
of short-rotation culture in western Washington, U.S.A., for four popl
ar clones, including Populus deltoides Bartr., Populus trichocarpa Tor
r. & A. Gray, and their interspecific hybrids. Results confirm previou
s observations indicating the high productive potential of hybrid clon
es of P. trichocarpa x P. deltoides; at the end of the second year the
maximum rate of total biomass production reached 21 Mg . ha(-1). year
(-1) and at the end of the fourth year maximum aboveground biomass pro
duction was 35 Mg . ha(-1). year(-1). In two of the hybrid clones test
ed, 11-11 and 44-136, large differences in biomass distribution among
tree's components and in the pattern of growth were evident, as indica
ted by harvest index and root/shoot ratios. An examination of the biom
ass distribution coefficients demonstrated that there were temporal ch
anges and clonal differences in the activity of biomass sinks within a
tree. Again, hybrid clones had contrasting patterns in the first year
: clone 11-11 apportioned more biomass into leaves and branches, where
as clone 44-136 apportioned more biomass into roots, which contributed
to rapid leaf and stem growth early in the second growing season. Our
results suggest that clonal differences in total biomass, in allocati
on to different tree components, and in harvest index have important i
mplications for future ideotype-based breeding programs with Populus.