Nitrogen removal and its determinants in hybrid Populus clones for bioenergy plantations after two biennial rotations in two temperate sites in northern Italy

Abstract

The sustainability of bioenergy coppice plantations is strongly affected by the Nitrogen (N) balance, whose removal is very high due to the frequent harvest of large quantities of biomass composed of small-sized shoots. Poplar bioenergy coppice plantations could have a Nitrogen removal comparable to herbaceous crops. In this study, five hybrid poplar genotypes (“AF2”, “AF6”, “Monviso”, “83.148.041”, “I214”) were compared for tree morphological traits related to yield, N removal in the harvested biomass and Nitrogen wood concentration (N %) after two biennial coppice rotations in two experimental plantations located in northern Italy. N removal was primarily influenced by biomass production, and linear positive relationships between biomass yield and N removal were established. N removal also varied greatly among genotypes due to clonal differences in yield and in N%, in relation to significant differences among clones for their branching and sprouting habits. In the first rotation, branchiness was positively correlated to N% with a significant coefficient of determination (R 2 =0.813), while at the end of the second rotation it was also significantly correlated to the shoots per stool ratio (R 2 =0.804). “Monviso” and “83.148.041” were the clones showing the highest yield, but also a high N% associated to an high level of branchiness and shoots per stool ratio. Our results highlight that poplar genotype selection for sustainable N management should be aimed at genotypes with low wood N concentration, coupling high yield with low branching and sprouting habits as in the case of the clone “AF2”.