Produção potencial de biomassa em culturas energéticas lenhosas no Norte de Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Patrício, Maria Sameiro
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Nunes, Luís, Saraiva, Ângelo, Azevedo, João
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/9850
• topic: Short rotation woody crops; Yield; Biomass for energy; Culturas lenhosas de curta rotação; Produtividade; Biomassa para energia

There are more and more evidences that the emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), from which the CO2 is the most responsible, are changing the global climate. The Portuguese government, in line with the European Commission, aims to reduce 20% of national emissions of CO2, on 1990 levels, by 2020. Dedicated energy crops are seen as fundamental in the process of GHG reduction and consequent decrease of dependence on external energy sources. Short rotation woody crops (SRWC) using poplar or willow, as they produce very low net CO2 emissions, can help to achieve these goals. In 2007, in the framework of the research project PTDC/AGR-CFL/64500/2006, a SRWC crop was established in Bragança, Trás-os-Montes. The crop was installed in a 4 ha area using willow (local hybrid Salix alba x Salix fragilis and a Swedish Salix. L. clone, Terra Nova), poplar (local Populus nigra and Populus x euroamericana, clone I-214) and ash (Fraxinus angustifolia). The crop was planted by simply pushing cuttings using a double row design with densities ranging from 15000 to 20000 cuttings per hectare for willow and 10000 to 15000 cuttings per hectare for poplar and ash. The cut back was done one growing season after plantation to encourage the coppice to produce more shoots. The potential biomass production and carbon storage were assessed at the end of the 3rd year of the 1st cutting cycle. Poplar and willow clones presented higher growth, higher biomass production and, consequently, higher carbon storage than their native counterparts. The potential biomass production ranged from 889.8 kg ha-1 to 5076.8 kg ha-1 for ash and poplar I-214, respectively.