Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Forest Plantations Thematic Papers MEAN ANNUAL VOLUME INCREMENT OF SELECTED INDUSTRIAL FOREST PLANTATION SPECIES Based on the work of Luis Ugalde and Osvaldo Pérez Consultants Edited by D. J. Mead April 2001 Forest Resources Development Service Working Paper FP/1 Forest Resources Division FAO, Rome (Italy) Forestry Department 2 Disclaimer The Forest Plantation Thematic Papers report on issues and activities in forest plantations as prepared for FRA 2000. These working papers do not reflect any official position of FAO. Please refer to the FAO website (http://www.fao.org/forestry) for official information. The purpose of these papers is to provide early information on on-going activities and programmes, and to stimulate discussion. Comments and feedback are welcome. For further information please contact: Mr. Jim Carle, Senior Forestry Officer (Plantations and Protection), Forest Resources Development Service Forest Resources Division Forestry Department FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla I-00100 Rome (Italy) e-mail:
[email protected] For quotation: FAO (2001). Mean annual volume increment of selected industrial forest plantation species by L Ugalde & O Pérez. Forest Plantation Thematic Papers, Working Paper 1. Forest Resources Development Service, Forest Resources Division. FAO, Rome (unpublished). 3 ABSTRACT This paper provides a global overview of forest plantation growth rates, with a particular focus on mean annual volume increment (MAI) of the main species planted in developing countries. Documented growth data from both trials and plantations is presented, and the difficulty of translating trial data to commercial scale is highlighted. The main technical issues and pitfalls relating to MAI measurement and the preparation and growth models used are included.