Estimation of Yield Loss Due to Deer Browsing in a Short Rotation Coppice Willow Plantation in Northern Japan

Abstract

Deer browsing is a major factor causing significant declines in yield in short rotation coppice (SRC) willow, but the resultant yield loss is difficult to estimate because it requires extensive investigation, especially when the standard yield is unknown. We investigated a simple method for estimating yield loss due to deer browsing. We enclosed an experimental SRC willow plantation in Hokkaido, northern Japan, planted with 12 clones, with an electric fence; deer browsing did, however, occur in the first summer of the second harvest cycle. We counted the number of sprouting stems and deer-browsed stems per plant and, after three years, the yield of each clone was analyzed using a generalized linear model with the above two parameters for the numbers of stems as explanatory variables. The model explained the yield of 11 out of the 12 clones, and estimated that browsing of a single stem per plant could reduce yield to 80%. Losses due to deer browsing were estimated to be as much as 6.0 oven dry ton ha−1 yr−1. The potential yield in the absence of deer browsing ranged from 2.2 to 7.5 oven dry ton ha−1 yr−1 among clones, and was significantly positively correlated with the estimated yield loss due to deer browsing. Our results suggest that a generalized linear model can be used to estimate the yield loss due to deer browsing from a simple survey, and deer browsing could significantly reduce willow biomass yield from the clones we studied, and thus countermeasures to control deer browsing are therefore necessary if sufficient willow biomass yield is to be produced.

Growth and Development of Short-Rotation Woody Crops for Rural and Urban Applications

“…Harayama et al [9] estimated the yield loss of short-rotation coppice (SRC) willow from deer browse in northern boreal Hokkaido, Japan. They allowed deer browsing to occur after the first summer of the second coppice cycle and subsequently recorded the number of sprouting stems and the number of deer-browsed stems.…”

“…There are a total of 20 papers in the Special Issue representing 13 countries and four genera (Phalaris L., Populus L., Robinia L., Salix L.) (Figure 1; Table 1). In addition to the development and management of a Salix cultivar database [1], rural and urban applications represented in the Special Issue include: (a) forest buffers [2], (b) forest health screening [3,4], (c) phytoremediation [5][6][7], (d) short rotation coppice [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], (e) volume production [16][17][18], and (f) wastewater reuse [19,20] (Table 1). There were >130 genotypes from 27 genomic groups tested across all studies (Table 2), representing the importance of phyto-recurrent selection and other methods to choose clones for local and regional biomass production systems whose methodologies and approaches are relevant worldwide.…”