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Biomass Estimation in a Young Stand of Mesquite (Prosopis spp.), Ironwood (Olneya tesota), Palo Verde (Cercidium floridium, and Parkinsonia aculeata), and Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala)

1982; University of Arizona; Volume: 35; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3898527

2162-2728

Peter Felker, Peter R. Clark, J. Osborn, Glen H. Cannell,

Tree Root and Stability Studies

Simple methods for estimating standing biomass in a stand of tree legumes containhtg the genera Prosopis, Cercidium, Olneya, Leucaena, and Parkinsonia are reported.Fresh and dry biomass were related to height and stem diameter measurements for 212 leguminous trees ranging in biomass from 0.04 to 17.8 kg using linear regression.The dry matter content of the above-ground biomass of these genera ranged from 40 to 56% and the stem dry matter percentage ranged from 70 to 96%.The best functional form of the model was log10 dry weight (kg) = 2.55 log basal diameter (cm)-1.25,which had an rJ of 0.956 for 212 samples.The leguminous trees and shrubs such as mesquite (Prosopis), palo Verde (Parkinsonia aculeata and Cercidium jloridium) and ironwood (Olneya tesota) occur on at least 30 million hectares in southwestern United States (Parker and Martin 1952) and may constitute a significant biofuels resource for southwestern United States.Easy methods for estimating this biomass from diameter and height measurements would facilitate biomass estimation in experimental plots designed to screen for biomass productivity and in regional surveys attempting to quantitate the biofuels resource potential.Whisenant and Burzlaff (1978) have reported highly significant regression equations relating stem area at ground level, stem area 60 cm above the ground, and canopy area with the fresh standing biomass of native mesquite (Prosopis) stands in Texas.Whittaker and Marks (1978) suggested that parabolic cone volume, which is the product of area and height measurements, is the preferred variable for estimating biomass with linear regressions.Whittaker and Marks (1975) clearly point out the utility of converting height and trunk diameter measurements and biomass determinations into log-log form to allow the regression to find the preferred power, e.g., linear, quadratic, or cubic, for the desired expressions.We have examined linear regressions similar to that reported by Whisenant and Burzlaff (1978) and parabolic cone volume expressions and log-log regressions suggested by Whittaker and Marks (1975) in deliberately established mesquite biomass plantation in southern California.Coefficients for converting fresh weight to dry weight and for partitioning dry matter into leaf and woody tissue have also been examined. MethodsPart of a 9-month-old tree legume biomass varietal trial in the California Imperial Valley was harvested for thesedeterminations.