Growth Rates of Poplar Cultivars across Central Asia

Abstract

Research Highlights: Despite a long tradition of using poplars as wood source across Central Asia, recent international breeding developments have not penetrated that region yet. This study therefore explored growth performance of 30 local and international poplar cultivars. Background and Objectives: The Central Asian countries are forest poor countries, which need to cover the domestic wood demand through costly imports. Therefore, fast growing trees, such as poplars, are gaining increasing attention as option to grow wood domestically. The most common cultivars date back to Soviet Union times. As recent breeding developments have not reached the region, this study aims at investigate the growth performance of a number of newly developed poplar cultivars. Materials and Methods: The investigated cultivars were planted as cuttings across nine sites in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan between 2018 and 2020. Results: Under warm climate conditions, i.e., low elevations, P. deltoides x nigra hybrids attained highest stem volumes and biomass yields, up to 16.9 t/ha*a after two years, followed by P. nigra xmaximoviczii hybrids. One of the P. deltoides xnigra hybrids reached a tree height of 10.5 m after three years. On higher elevations, e.g., in the Pamirs and in Naryn, P. maximoviczi x trichocarpa hybrids and P. trichocarpa cultivars grew faster than the former hybrids. Conclusions: The cultivars explored in this study should be included into plantations or agroforestry systems that are being established, provided that land users are able to thoroughly control weeds and ensure nutrient and water supply. If sufficient weed control, nutrient supply, or water supply cannot be ensured, then land users should opt for local cultivars (e.g., Mirza Terek) or the P. nigra xmaximoviczii hybrids or P. trichocarpa, in order to avoid failure.

Phytochemical Profile and Antimicrobial Potential of Propolis Samples from Kazakhstan

“…Moreover, many Populus cultivars are known for the easy creation of crossbreed species. In a result in the same Almaty, many crossbreed species were observed (e.g., P. nigra × P. maximowiczii , P. nigra × deltoides or P. laurifolia × P. canadensis ) [ 28 ]. Dependences between Populus bud exudate compositions and their genetic origin were not well investigated and, for this reason, accurate tracking of plant precursors of Kazakhstani poplar type propolis may be very difficult.…”

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

“…Thevs et al [14] estimated the growth rates and biomass production of 30 poplar genotypes grown as short-rotation coppice (SRC) across nine sites in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan in central Asia. There was a difference in genomic group performance based on elevation, with P. deltoides × P. nigra and P. nigra × P. maximowiczii clones exhibiting the greatest stem volumes and biomass yields at lower elevations, and P. maximowiczii × P. trichocarpa and pure P. trichocarpa genotypes performing the best at higher elevations.…”

“…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.…”

Functional Characterisation of the Poplar Atypical Aspartic Protease Gene PtAP66 in Wood Secondary Cell Wall Deposition

“…Due to its fast growth rate and large wood size, poplar is an excellent tree species for afforestation and biomass accumulation [32][33][34]. A complete genome sequence has been identified for Populus trichocarpa [35], which facilitates the exploration of gene functions associated with SCW deposition.…”