Stump size and the number of coppice shoots for selected savanna tree species

Management of coppice dynamics of indigenous savanna trees could assist in increasing the regrowth rates or number of coppice shoots produced. This wo uld be useful in natural resource management programmes to promote sustaina ble resource management. This study examined the influence of cutting heigh t, stem size and surface area on the number of coppice shoots produced for twelve savanna species from a communal land in the Bushbuckridge lowveld. A il species exhibited a strong coppicing ability following cutting. The numb er of shoots per stump was most frequently related to cutting height. altho ugh this was not always the most significant predictor. There were clear di fferences between species with respect to the number of shoots per unit sur face area. the highest being for Albizia harveyii and the least Piliostigma thonningii. The taller the potential height of a species, the fewer were t he coppice shoots per stump surface area.