APAT Agency for the environmental protection and for technical services Nursery production and stand establishment of broad-leaves to promote sustainable forest management Atti 5/2003 APAT NURSERY PRODUCTION AND STAND ESTABLISHMENT OF BROADLEAVES TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT Legal information Neither the Italy’s Agency for the protection of the environment and for technical services (APAT), neither the persons that act on behalf of APAT can accept any legal responsability or liability for the use that may be made of the information contained in this publication. APAT - Italy’s Agency for the protection of the environment and for technical services Nature Conservation Dpt. Parks, Ecosystems and Biodiversity Service © APAT, Atti 5/2003 ISBN 88-448-0103-5 This material may be freely reproduced, provided it is acknowledged and the title of the publication specified Graphics: APAT Cover graphics: Franco Iozzoli Cover photo credits: Lorenzo Ciccarese, Paolo Orlandi Editor coordination: APAT Page layout and printing: I.G.E.R. srl - Viale C.T. Odescalchi, 67/A - 00147 Roma Printed on TCF pulp First published: June 2004 Printed in Italy AUTORI Edited by: Lorenzo Ciccarese, APAT Stefano Lucci, APAT Anders Mattsson, Dalarna University, Sweden Proceedings of the conference “Nursery production and stand establishment of broad- leaves to promote sustainable forest management” organised by: APAT, Dalarna University and IUFRO groups S3.02.00 (Operational methods in the es- tablishment and treatment of stands) and working parties S3.02.03 (Nursery operations) and S3.02.01 (Stand establishment operations) Rome, Italy May 7 - 10, 2001 Technical coordinators Lorenzo Ciccarese, APAT Anders Mattsson, Dalarna University, Sweden Alessandra Fino, APAT Francesco Campanelli, APAT Stefano Lucci, APAT Scientific committee Helena Almeida, Portugal Jim Carle, New Zealand Lorenzo Ciccarese, Italy Steve Colombo, Canada Anders Mattsson, Sweden Ken Mc Nabb, USA Kalliopi Radoglou, Greece PREFACE Preface Over recent years, the level of new forest planting has increased considerably. This is prima- rily due to the commitment in many countries to extend the forest area or to rehabilitate de- graded forest ecosystems and to reclaim disturbed sites for forestry, also with the aims to main- tain and increase biodiversity, to mitigate global climate changes. In addition, the market of the forest nursery stock has changed: nurserymen are requested to produce planting stock of high quality standards, of a wide variety of species, of native spe- cies and local provenances, and of broad-leaves rather than conifers. The conference held in Rome in 2001, whose proceeding we have the pleasure to edit, brou- ght together scientists, forest managers, policy advisors, private nursery entrepreneurs and producers of nursery equipments. The proceedings present biological results and technical so- lutions regarding nursery production and stand establishment of forest broad-leaves from projects and activities all over the world. With participation from 20 different countries the conference and this proceeding will be a landmark for people interested in nursery production and stand establishment of broad-lea- ves in order to promote sustainable forest management. INDEX Index A. NURSERY OPERATIONS 1. A MACHINE TO CUT POPLAR SETS INTO CUTTINGS 3 P. Balsari, G. Airoldi and G. Facciotto 2. OPERATIVE AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF MACHINES FOR PLANTING CUTTINGS 9 P. Balsari, G. Airoldi and G. Facciotto 3. THE USE OF A COMPOST ACTIVATOR TO OVERCOME SEED DORMANCY IN ROSA CANINA L. 17 P. Belletti, J. Cullum, F. Gorian, I. Monteleone and B. Piotto 4. CORK-OAK AND STONE-OAK SEED MANAGEMENT AIMED AT IMPLEMENTING NURSERY PRODUCTION OF SEEDLINGS 21 P. Belletti, I. Monteleone and M. Cartarasa 5. DOES AUTUMN CLIMATE AFFECT THE APPLICABILITY OF SHOOT FROST HARDINESS AS AN OPERATIONAL TEST PARAMETER FOR STORABILITY OF PEDUNCULATE OAK (QUERCUS ROBUR L.) SEEDLINGS 25 P. Brønnum 6. INFLUENCE OF THE SAMPLING TIME, TYPE OF CUTTING AND INDOLE-3-BUTYRIC ACID (IBA) ON CUTTING ROOTING OF VIBURNUM TINUS L. 33 M.A. Cocozza Talia, F. La Viola and G. Cristiano 7. HOW TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF BROADLEAVED SEEDLINGS PRODUCED IN TREE NURSERIES 41 S.J. Colombo 8. PROMOTING GERMINATION OF NATIVE SPECIES USING SMOKE FOR LAND RESTORATION AND NURSERY PRODUCTION IN AUSTRALIA 55 R. Crosti, A.Tieu and K.W. Dixon 9. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF PRODUCING POPLAR CUTTINGS ON ROOTING ABILITY AND PLANT GROWTH 65 G. Facciotto, G. Mughini, P. Balsari and G. Airoldi 10. EFFECT OF INORGANIC AND ORGANIC NPK FERTILIZERS ON THE GROWTH OF THREE TROPICAL HARDWOOD SEEDLINGS GROWN IN AN ULTISOL 71 J.A. Fagbenro 11. HARDWOOD SEEDLING PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES 83 K. Mc Nabb NURSERY PRODUCTION AND STAND ESTABLISHMENT OF BROADLEAVES TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT 12. MODERNIZATION OF FOREST TREE SEEDLING PRODUCTION SYSTEM IN INDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON SEEDLING HEALTH, STAND ESTABLISHMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY 89 C. Mohanan 13. ARTIFICIALLY INDUCED MALE COMPETITION TO PRODUCE SEEDS FOR BIOREMEDIATION PURPOSES 97 S. Mugnaini, M. Nepi, L. Cresti, B. Piotto and E. Pacini 14. NURSERY PRODUCTION – A RESPONSIBLE CONTRIBUTION FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT 101 I. Neves, V. Paiva 15. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF BROADLEAVED SPECIES TO TRANSPLANTING STRESS 105 Raftoyannis Yannis, Radoglou Kalliopi and Halivopoulos Giorgos 16. PROPAGATION OF MEDITERRANEAN TREES AND SHRUBS BY SEED 115 B. Piotto 17. PHOTOCHEMICAL REFLECTANCE INDEX: A NOVEL TOOL FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SEEDLING PHOTOSYNTHETICAL PERFORMANCE 121 S. Raddi and F. Magnani 18. QUERCUS SUBER L. AND QUERCUS ILEX L. NURSERY PRODUCTION IN PORTUGAL 127 D. Ribeiro and H. Marques 19. LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION OF MYCORRHIZAL BROAD-LEAVED FOREST SEEDLINGS IN NURSERY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EARLY FIELD PERFORMANCES 133 B. Robin and P. Combot 20. DEVELOPMENT OF TREE NURSERIES IN CHINA AND LOOKING AHEAD 10 YEARS 137 L. Wang and X. Yang B. STAND ESTABLISHMENT 1. FOREST BIODIVERSITY AND FOREST NURSERIES (BIOFORV) ITALIAN WORKING GROUP 147 M.G. Adduci, L. Baratozzi, P. Belletti, E. Calvo, L. Camoriano, F. Correale, F. Ducci, F. Gorian, A. Mazzoleni, M. Pattuelli and B. Piotto 2. EFFECT OF CONTAINER-WASHING AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES ON THE VIABILITY OF FUNGAL INOCULUM 151 I. Børja and K. Kohmann 3. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF FOREST PLANTATION DEVELOPMENT1980-2000 159 J.B. Carle 4. CORK-OAK SEEDLING PRODUCTION: CONTAINER CAPACITY AND SUBSTRATE EFFECT ON SEEDLING FIELD PERFORMANCE 171 F. Costa, E. Silva, S. Moura, M.H. Almeida, M.R. Chambel and C. Pereira INDEX 5. THE EFFECTS OF COPPICING ON THE GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF JUVENILE OAK TREES 179 M. Cowell 6. GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF STEMWOOD IN 16 PROVENANCES OF PEDUNCULATE OAK (QUERCUS ROBUR L.) IN CROATIA 185 J. Gracan and S. Peric 7. CLONAL TECHNOLOGY - NURSERY AND PLANTATION ADVANCEMENTSIN ITC BHADRACHALAM, INDIA 191 H.D. Kulkarni 8. POLYPHENOLS DETERMINATION IN LEAVES OF DIFFERENT POPULATIONS OF MILICIA EXCELSA (WELW.) C.C.BERG 201 M. Innocenti, M. Michelozzi, N. Mulinacci, A. Ragazzi, E. Silvestrini and F.F. Vincieri 9. SUMMER PLANTING OF HOT-LIFTED SILVER BIRCH CONTAINER SEEDLINGS 207 J. Luoranen, R. Rikala and H. Smolander 10. MANAGEMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BROADLEAVES 219 J.P. McClarnon and C.F. McClarnon 11. FIRST RESULTS AFTER TEN YEARS OF BROADLEAVES PLANTATIONS IN SOUTHERN ITALY 229 R. Mercurio and G. Modica 12. EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL TREE PROTECTIONS ON THE EARLY GROWTH OF SESSILE OAK AND WILD CHERRY 237 R. Mercurio and L. Nocentini 13. THE EFFECT OF PLANTING DATE ON FIELD PERFORMANCE OF CASTANEA SATIVA AND QUERCUS FRAINETTO SEEDLINGS 243 K. Radoglou, Y. Raftoyannis and G. Halivopoulos 14. SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY IN WESTERN HIMALAYA 253 C.M. Seth 15. THE USE OF SPONTANEOUS POPLARS (POPULUS NIGRA AND POPULUS ALBA) IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION 263 L. Vietto, G. Facciotto, C. Zampighi, C. Gasparini and L. Cristaldi A. NURSERY OPERATIONS A. NURSERY OPERATIONS A. NURSERY OPERATIONS 1. A machine to cut poplar sets into cuttings P. B a lsari1, G. Airoldi1 and G. Facciotto2 Summary The establishment of short rotation forestry (SRF) plantations for the production of biomass: a) allows the reduction of excessive production of food crops and b) from the environmental point of view, makes the production of energy sustainable (at preesent 90% of energy is produced by the traditional fossil fuel throughout the world). The economical sustenance of this type of cultivation requires low cost techniques during and after the establishment of the plantation. One of the most demanding operations when establishing poplar plantations for Short Rota- tion Forestry is cutting sets into cuttings. A little over 600 cuttings ⋅ h-1 (5 s ⋅ cutting-1) were produced using traditional techniques (tak- ing into consideration the position of the buds). This level of productivity is acceptable on small surfaces like the ones used to produce cuttings in nursery. It is however considered too low in the case of establishing poplar SRF plantations. In order to increase productivity, the Mechanical Division of the DEIAFA, together with the Is- tituto di Sperimentazione per la Pioppicoltura and the Berni Company, and with the financial support of ENEL-CRAM, designed and developed a machine to produce cuttings, taking into consideration the safety of the operator. The system of producing cuttings is schematically made up of: a) a plastic wrapper which en- circles some sets automatically; b) a circular saw, provided with a 500 mm diameter blade with necessary protection; c) a feeding system; d) a pre-determining system of cutting lengths and e) a spraying system to paint one end of the cuttings so that they can be inserted in the transplanting machine correctly. The machine can produce cuttings of different lengths from 20 to 40 cm, put together in 15- 20 units which are dropped in special containers. During a series of tests carried out with one-year old poplar sets the machine produced over 3000 cuttings⋅h-1 which corresponds to 1,2 s ⋅ cutting-1. If this machine were used for SRF in a 100 ha, 8-year rotation plantation, the cost of pro- ducing cuttings would drop by 22% when compared to the traditional system.