EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION, PLANTATION DENSITY AND GENOTYPE ON WOODY BIOMASS QUALITY FOR BIOENERGY IN A SHORT ROTATION CULTURE SYSTEM WITH WILLOWS (Salix spp.)

ACHINELLI, FABIO; DOFFO, GUILLERMO; BAROTTO JOSÉ; LUQUEZ VIRGINIA; MONTEOLIVA SILVIA

REVISTA ÝRVORE

UNIV FEDERAL VICOSA

Año: 2018 vol. 42 p. 1 - 8

0100-6762

A short rotation intensive system with willows wasanalyzed with the following aims: a - to determine the effects of irrigation,genotype and plantation density on wood anatomy, wood density, moisturecontent, lower heating value, total ash content and energy accumulated in thewoody biomass; b ? to explore the relationships between anatomical and physicalwood properties and the parameters determining their quality as a biofuel. Acomplete factorial experiment was set up, with three factors and two levels foreach factor. The factors were: irrigation, plantation density and clone (genotype).The clones were Salix matsudanaKoidz. x Salix alba L. `Barrett 13-44INTA´ (B) and Salix alba L.`Yaguareté INTA - CIEF´ (Y). 46 stools of 1 m long were sampled, on which thefollowing determinations were carried out: vessel diameter and frequency, fiberwall thickness and area, wood density, moisture content, ash content andheating values. Clone B had higher wood density than clone Y (0.406 vs. 0.395g/cm3) and lower moisture content (47.11 vs. 50.53 %). Theplantation density did not affect any of the variables analyzed. Irrigationincreased the energy yield to 393.2 Gj/ha, compared to 309.15 Gj/ha withoutirrigation. A system with clone B planted at a lower density (13,000 plants/ha)and under irrigation has the best advantage as an energetic crop over the otheralternatives evaluated in this work.