Efficiency of Management of Bioresource Collections of Trees and Shrubs for Solving Agroforestry Problems

Abstract

One of the indicators of sustainable development of regions is the forest cover of territories, which tends to decrease in recent decades. Increasing forest cover in low-forested regions is possible through agroforestry to conserve and rationalize natural resources, including biodiversity. Implementing agroforestry programs relies on selecting tree and shrub species adapted to specific growing conditions. Theoretical and practical challenges in agroforestry are significantly addressed by the dendrological collections of the Nizhnevolzhskaya Station for Selection of Tree Species (NSSDP), a branch of the Federal Research Center for Agroecology under the Russian Academy of Sciences. Established over 90 years ago, these collections comprise trees and shrubs from diverse ecological and geographical zones. As a result of extensive research conducted over several years, a conceptual framework for enriching the dendroflora of artificial plantations was developed. The study revealed that the Rosaceae family had the highest number of taxa, with a decline from 100 taxa in 1985 to 46 in 2023. Other prominent families included Buxaceae, Ephedraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Jingoaceae, Hippocastanaceae, Liliaceae, Polygonaceae, Scrophulaceae, Simarubaceae, Solanaceae. It was found that the number of species in the collections decreased to 175 (77 genera), respectively, and the number of families in the structure decreased by 31%. The share of families represented by one species increased-Tamaricaceae, Moraceae, Rhamnaceae. Adaptive capabilities, longevity and reproductive capacity of woody plants, allows predicting changes in species composition and trends in the transformation of dendrological collections. The principles for mobilizing gene pool biodiversity are outlined to facilitate the effective management of bioresource collections of trees and shrubs. Profitability of nursery production of adapted gene pool of tree species is related to the potential volumes of sale of planting material in the course of activities on creation of agroforestry plantations within the framework of forest-climatic projects on afforestation on lands of different purposes and categories. At the Nizhnevolzhskaya station for this purpose the areas for growing poplars (by 13%), pine (by 285%), oak (by 100%) with closed and open root system were increased. The availability of own mother plantations of adapted trees and shrubs is a competitive advantage and allows us to expand the range of planting material and promptly respond to the requests of customers with different needs.