In-woods chipping: Possible evidence for allelochemical interaction of leachate generated from trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) bark and wood waste

Abstract

A portable delimber-debarker-chipper, designed for in-woods chipping operations, was used to produce waste bark and wood residue from winter-harvested tree-length trembling aspen logs. The residue was then utilized to create leachate, which was subsequently used to treat white spruce, lodgepole pine, paper birch, aspen and Calamagrostis canadensis seedlings grown in sand-filled pots. Treatment with the leachate significantly decreased height growth and shoot and root dry weights of all species relative to the control treatment. Root:shoot ratios of all tree species except lodgepole pine were increased significantly by application of leachate. The root:shoot ratios of treated C. canadensis were significantly increased during one season, but significantly reduced in the following season. The data indicated that leachate from aspen bark and wood residue contain allelochemical properties that could affect the regenerative capacity of aspen cutblocks harvested for in-woods chipping operations.