Poppel - en möjlighet i norra Sverige?

Abstract: The countries in the European Union have agreed to increase their percentage renewable energy sources to 20 %. To reach this goal an increase of biomass production needs to be made. One way of achieving this is by using nonnative species. Poplar in Sweden produces biomass faster than the domestic trees. In the southern parts of Sweden plantations has been made with good results. In the northern parts survival is a problem that needs to be solved before plantations can be made for commercial use. To find planting material that is suitable for the colder climate clonal tests has been planted, but only a few of the plantations are old enough to evaluate. Another problem in the north is that poplar can not be planted on forest land due to its low pH. The reformation of agriculture however, leaves a habitat with good nutritional values and suitable pH. Since many of these are being planted with Norwegian spruce today, when evaluating poplar, comparisons should be made against the production of these. To try to predict the potential of production and survival we have looked at the only three plantations we have found that are old enough. They have been compared to each other and a plantation in the south most parts of Sweden. The difference in production between spruce and poplar has also been examined at each location. The results show that poplar can achieve a great production in the northern costal area in Sweden, but in two of the test areas the survival has been very low. In the third area both survival and growth has been good and is growing in a similar way as the one in the south. This gives reason to believe that poplar has a good potential for producing biomass at a commercial level.