A SALIX SPP. SHORT ROTATION COPPICE SYSTEM IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: EFFECTS OF CLONAL COMPOSITION, PLANTING DENSITY AND DRIP IRRIGATION ON BIOMASS PRODUCTION.

ACHINELLI, FABIO; DOFFO, GUILLERMO; ETCHEVERS P; LUQUEZ, VIRGINIA

Berlín

Congreso; IPC 2016; 2016

IPC-FAO

In Argentina,renewable sources represent 9.4% of the primary energetic matrix, of which only5% correspond to bioenergy sources. During the last decade, the country needed toincrease fossil fuel imports due to a pronounced fall in national reserves. Asa consequence, there is an increasing interest from government and companiesabout the use of wood biomass to produce energy through firing or co-firingprocesses. One obstacle for the development of these projects is the scarcityof information about the local productivity of dendroenergy crops, and aboutthe suitability of this biomass to produce energy. We established a tree-factorfactorial field trial with a willow (Salixspp.) short rotation coppice system (SRC) to evaluate the effects of dripirrigation, genotype and planting density on the yield and quality of thebiomass. The eight treatments were arranged in a split-split plot design andreplicated in three complete blocks. The trial was planted in September, 2012and harvested every year from 2013 to 2015. The variables determined for eachtreatment were yield (t/ha dry mass at 105°C), lower heating value (LHV, cal/g) and totalash content (TAC, %).  During the first season(September 2012-April 2013) drip irrigation was not applied because soil was atfield capacity most of the growing period. Clone Salix alba `Yaguarete INTA-CIEF´ had significantly higher yieldsthan clone Salix matsudana x Salix alba `Barrett 13-44 INTA´ (11.94 ±0.88 t/ha vs. 9.49 ± 1.14 t/ha). The increase of plantation density from 13333plants/ha to 20000 plants/ha correlated with higher yields, but the effect wasstatistically significant only in clone Barrett 13-44. In the two followingyears, drip irrigation was applied to irrigated plots, with resulted in theaddition of 543 mm(2013-2014) and 843 mmof water (2014-1015) to rainwater. In both seasons irrigation was the onlyfactor with statistically significant effects on biomass production, whereirrigated plots produced higher yields compared to non-irrigated ones (21.76 ±0.98 t/ha vs. 16.94 ± 1.07 t/ha during 2013 ? 2014 season; 19.03 ± 1.48 t/havs. 11.99 ± 1.22 t/ha during 2014 ? 2015 season). LHV and TAC were determinedon 2013-2014 harvest only. The mean LHV for all samples was 4654 ± 25.5 cal/g,with no significant differences between treatments, while for TAC marginallysignificant  differences (0,05<p<0,1) between clones (2.15 ± 0.095 %for Yaguareté vs.  1.95 ± 0.1 % forBarrett 13-44), and between irrigated and non-irrigated plots (1.96 ± 0.15% vs.2.13 ± 0.15 % respectively) were found.  So far, the bestcombination in terms of yield, quality and implantation cost would be a dripirrigated, low density (13333 plants/ha) short rotation coppice with cloneBarrett 13-44.