Biomass Production of Eucalyptus grandis in

South Africa Planted at Various Close Espacements:

Two-Year Results
Wm Kevin Darrow
D.R. de Wet Forestry Research Station
Private Bag X520
SABIE,1260

SYNOPSIS

A trial was established in the Eastern Transvaal to determine the effect of close espacement on the bio-
mass production of Eucalyptus grandis when harvested on very short rotations. The treatments allowed 1
m,2 2 m,2 3 m2 an d4 m2 per tree of growmg
. space. Weeds were completely suppressed with herbicides and
the trees were fertilised with 50 g of 3:2:1(24) per tree at the time of planting.
At two years the 1 m 2 treatment gave significantly greater biomass production for stem fractions
(bark and wood) and total biomass, but not for branches or leaves. Absolute but non-significant differ-
ences existed between the other treatments. If harvesting methods are considered, the wider espacements
are favoured despite their lower biomass as larger percentages of the biomass are in large trees which will
greatly reduce extraction costs. At present the 3 m2 treatment yields the greatest biomass in trees larger
than 60mm DBH.
Yields of oven-dry biomass (t/ha) were:

Treatment Stemwood Wood and bark Total biomass

1 34,9 39,2 52,0

2 28,5 31,5 42,4
3 25,2 28,6 40,3
4 22,7 25,8 37,6

INTRODUCTION fines from chipping entire trees can be used as a solid

fuel, for liquid fuel production, or in the case of leaves,
Foresters have traditionally thought of "forest pro-
as an animal feed supplement (Keays, 1976). The
ductivity" in terms of the production of solid wood
change in forest productivity studies is therefore from
mass or volume. Since the most usable solid wood is in
trees as producers of stem wood volume to trees as pro-
the stems of trees, very little consideration was given to
ducers of biomass from which a variety of products can
the production of other tree components except by
be made.
forest ecologists who studied plant biomass distri-
Some studies have been done in South Africa on
butions as part of their work on nutrient cycling or simi-
the biomass production of mature pines (Van Laar and
lar studies. Several factors have, however, substantially
Van Lill, 1978: Van Laar, 1982) and of young commer-
changed the field of "forest productivity" studies. First,
cially-grown eucalypts (Schonau and Boden, 1982).
more and more forest products are now made by reduc-
Several articles have also been published about the po-
ing wood to particles of various sizes and then gluing
tential of wood biomass as a fuel source in South Africa
them back together into a huge variety of board pro-
or about methods of harvesting forest biomass (Garbutt
ducts. Secondly, the wood pulp and paper industry is
and Van Breda, 1979; Du Toit, 1980). So far, however,
the fastest growing user of wood. Finally the rebirth of
no work has been published about the use of intensive
wood as a fuel or as a raw material for liquid fuel pro-
forest management, particularly the use of the close es-
duction has created a new market for wood fibre.
pacement and very short rotation, to maximise biomass
Because the requirements of these new wood users
production of forest trees in South Africa.
are considerably different from those of solid wood
Because Eucalyptus grandis is the most widely
users, with a heavy emphasis on low cost per ton of
planted hardwood species in South Africa and is highly
chips, foresters have had to give new thought of grow-
productive and suitable for a variety of uses, the South
ing the maximum mass of wood fibre per unit of area in
African Directorate of Forestry decided in 1980 to es-
as short a time as possible. This wood fibre need, how-
tablish an experiment to test the biomass productivity
ever, not only be stem wood. It can be bark, branches
of E. grandis at various close espacements and at var-
or leaves. Although stemwood chips and bark are the
ious cutting ages.
most suitable for pulping and board products (Einspahr
The desire to keep costs low and to test a range of es-
and Harder, 1980), the branches, leaves and wood

34 Suid-Afrikaanse Bosboutydskrif- Desember 1984

pacements precluded the use of plots large enough to
allow a series of rotational fellings for each age class.
This experiment was therefore not planned to compare,
for example, the total biomass production of four fel-
lings at two-year intervals with one felling at eight
years. Work mentioned in Cannell and Smith (1980) in-
dicates that yields after coppice should be 10 to 20 %
better than from seedling stands. Labosky et al. (1983)
point out that the fibre characteristics of coppice wood
of hybrid poplar are also better than those of first rota-
tion wood.
The possibility that these points will hold true for
Eucalyptus grandis will be tested in a new experiment
to be planted in 1984.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The biomass productivity trial was planted in March
1981 at the Wilgeboom State Forest in the Eastern
Transvaal Lowveld zone at an altitude at 945 m. The
site lies on a mid-slope with a south-easterly aspect.
The soil is a deeply weathered granitic soil of high fer-
tility. The mean annual rainfall for the State forest is
1 348 mm, but during 1981-82 the mean was only 1 151
mm or 85 % of the normal. In 1982 only 543 mm fell-
40 % of normal.
The site was previously planted to Pinus patula and
then to Eucalyptus cloeziana, which was killed in the
first year by frost. The logging slash was spread manu-
ally as it was very unevenly distributed. The entire area
was sprayed with a 1 % solution of glyphosate (brand-
name Roundup) to kill the dense infestation of setaria
grass (Setaria megaphylla) and newly germinated bug-
weed (Solanum mauritianum).
TABLE 1. Design of Eucalyptus grandis biomass trial, Wilgeboom State Forest
Design: Spit-plot factorial with subunits in strips. Randomised complete block with whole units.
Replications: 4
Factors:
A Plantation
espacement (m)
A1 1 x 1
A2 1 x2
A3 ll/z x2
A4 2 x2
B Time of harvest
B1 2 years
B2 4 years
B3 6 years
B4 8 years
South African Forestry Journal- December 1984
At two months of age all dead trees were replaced
and all trees were fertilised with 50 g of 3:2: 1(25) granu-
lar fertiliser to encourage early growth. This dose is
much less than is ordinarily recommended for establish-
ment (Herbert et al., 1982), but was used to avoid too
heavy an application on the very densely stocked
(10 000 stems/ha) plots. All seedlings used were ob-
tained from the Wilgeboom nursery and were grown
from State seed orchard seed.
No other attention was given to the trees until the
first group of treatments was felled at 26 months' of
age.
. Th~ trial consists of a 42 split-plot factorial exper-
iment WIth four replications (see Table 1). Because only
one harvesting age is considered, however, the plot
data wer~ analysed as a simple randomised complete
block design. A standard plot size of 20 m x 10 m was
used, so the number of trees per plot varied with treat-
ment. All measurements and biomass sampling were
done on the trees of a subplot of 24 or 30 trees demar-
cated within each plot.
At the time of felling at 26 months, the quadratic
mean diameter at breast height! (D~H2) was derived
from the inner plot trees. Six trees per subplot were
then selected on the basis of this mean. Two trees were
selected in the mean 10 mm DBH class and then one
tree each in the next two DBH classes on either side of
the mean. Generally only one tree was chosen in each
of the horizontal rows of the subplot so that the sam-
pled trees were widely distributed within the subplots.
Plots Inner Trees
(rows) (rows)
10 x 20 5x6 30
10 x 10 5x6 30
5 x 13 3x9 27
5 x 10 3x8 24
35
 The stocking of the plot was based on a complete
count of all living trees within the full plot.
Each tree was cut off at soil level, carefully lo-
wered to the ground and then measured for height and
diameter (to the nearest 10 mm) at 1,3 m above the butt
end of the tree.
The various biomass elements were then individu-
ally stripped from the trees, placed in bags and weighed
to the nearest 100 g as a more sensitive scale was not
available. After the bark of the tree was stripped, wood
samples were removed at 10 %, 25 % and 50 % of tree
height for determination of the moisture content of the
wood fraction. Subsamples of all other fractions were
taken from each tree, sealed in plastic bags and stored
that day in a cold room (4°C) until they could be
weighed. These samples were then air-dried for one
week before being oven-dried to constant mass at
70 °C - the temperature used in recent Australian
studies of eucalypt biomass (Bradstock, 1981; Cromer
and Williams, 1982). *
The conversion factors between wet and dry bio-
mass of the subsamples was used to estimate the dry
mass of the biomass components of each tree. Al-
though there were differences in moisture content be-
tween the wood samples taken at 10 % tree height and
the other samples, the differences were not statistically
significant. The average moisture content of the three
samples per trees was therefore used as a conversion
factor for determining the dry biomass of stemwood of
each tree.
TABLE 2. Regression Constants, Standard Deviation of Regression (Sy.x) and Analysis of Variance of Regression (F)
values for equations to estimate individual tree biomass values
The biomass data for the trees were grouped by
treatment and regression equations of dry biomass on
DBH (o.b.) were derived for each plant fraction. The
allometric equation of the form
INY =a+ InX
was used where Y is the dry biomass and X the DBH
(o.b.). This equation is the most commonly used in
studies of plant biomass production (Parde, 1980) and
is well suited to conditions such as those in this exper-
iment where the variance of Y is positively correlated
with X and thus not uniform across DBH classes (Bas-
kerville, 1972). To avoid the incorredt estimaltion of in-
dividual biomass caused by the transformation of log Y
values to scalar, the correction factor
\72
e"2)' recommended by Mountford and Bunce (1073),
was used.
Estimates of biomass productivity per plot were made
by summing the estimated biomasses of a plant fraction
for each DBH class multiplied by the percentage of
trees in that DBH class in the subplot. This estimate
was then multiplied by the estimate of the stocking per
hectare for each plot. The result was an estimated bio-
mass (kg/ha) for each plant fraction by plot.
Estimates of biomass components not measured
directly (e.g. total stem biomass) were derived from
new equations based on the sum of dry biomass frac-
tions (bark + stemwood) per tree and not by adding the
regression estimates of the different fractions (Table 2).

Equation form 1nY = a + b 1nX where Y = tree fraction mass (in kg) and X = DBH (o.b.) in mm/lO

Dead Live Stem- Total Total

Treat- branches branches Leaves Bark wood stem tree
ment (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (4+5) (1+2+3+4+5)

1 a= -2,709 -3,310 -3,274 -3,042 -0,962 -0,836 -0,333

b= 1,347 1,396 1,544 1,444 1,491 1,483 1,344
Sy. x = 0,446 0,567 0,509 0,483 0,281 0,294 0,298
F= 0,46 0,38 0,42 0,43 0,59 0,54 0,58
2 a= -3,452 -5,034 -5,553 -4,550 -2,163 -2,082 -1,824
b= 1,871 2,510 2,855 2,285 2,139 2,157 2,190
Sy. x = 0,270 0,239 0,263 0,223 0,108 0,113 0,114
F= 4,30" 4,34" 4,23 4,44" 5,95' 5,05' 4,96'
3 a= -3,347 -5,017 -4,845 -3,284 -1,556 -1,395 -1,289
b= 1,886 2,594 2,556 1,723 1,862 1,846 1,965
Sy. x = 0,275 0,221 0,178 0,199 0,123 0,122 0,128
F= 3,15 3,36 3,52 3,44 3,74 3,71 3,72
4 a= -4,499 -4,958 3,308 -4,182 -2,236 -2,102 -1,788
b= 2,405 2,637 -3:308 2,173 2,187 2,185 2,215
Sy. x = 0,271 0,214 U,139 0,121 0,098 0,098 0,100
F 10,19" 11,83" 11,78" 11,99" 12,18" 12,11" 12,18"

F.05 (1,22) = 4.30; F.01(1,22) = 7.95

• To convert the listed dry mass to bone-dry (105°C) biomass multi-

ply the components by the following factors:
dry branches x 0,919; live branches x 0,973; leaves x 0,912; bark x
0,945; stemwood x 0,920

36 Suid-Afrikaanse Bosboutydskrif- Desember 1984

TABLE 3. Analysis of Variance for differences between treatment means for various biomass fractions

Biomass values (kg/ha)

Dead Live Stem- Total Total

branches branches Leaves Bark wood stem tree
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (4+5) (1+2+3+4+5)

F value 2,82"' 2,72"' 1,86"' 7,66** 9,74** 9,36** 6,65*

Treatment
1 5060 3233 4111 4367 34849 39180 52041
2 4465 3044 3382 3073 4244281
284581 315311
3 4515 3437 3751 3438 25157 28604 40277
4 3826 3860 4177 3156 1 22695 25842 37640

Note: Treatment values connected by a solid line are not significantly different at P>0,95

TABLE 4. Distribution of different biomass fractions as percentages of total tree biomass by treatment

Percentages

Treatment Dead Live Leaves Bark Stemwood

branches branches

1 9,80 6,26 7,96 8,46 67,52

2 11,33 7,72 8,58 7,80 64,57
3 11,20 8,53 9,31 8,53 62,43
4 10,14 10,23 11,08 8.37 60,18

in leaf biomass was progressive, not constant, from one

RESULTS
The growth of the trees in the experiment was very
good despite the below average rainfall experienced in
1982-83. Mean tree height at 26 months was 11,7 m
(S.D. 1,13) with 10 % of the trees taller than 13 m.
The 1 m2 espacement gave the highest biomass
production for all plant fractions except that of live
branches and leaves (Table 3). This espacement was
also not significantly better than the others for dead
branch biomass.
The advantage in biomass production for the
major plant fractions was substantial at the closest es-
pacement. There was 37 % more stemwood, 37 %
more stem biomass and 30 % more total biomass than
the mean of the other three treatments. There were no
significant differences in biomass production of any
plant fraction between the other three treatments, al-
though absolute differences generally favoured the
closer espacements.
An analysis of the effect of espacement on the pro-
duction of biomass of the various plant fractions
showed that dead branch and live branch biomass were
linearly related to espacement, but leaf biomass had a
significant quadratic component, indicating that change
espacement to another.
Changes in the biomass of all other plant fractions
with changing espacements could not be adequately re-
lated to linear, quadratic or cubic effects, indicating
that, in this case, a polynomial model with espacement
as the independent variable was not useful in describing
biomass production. The allometric equation In Y = a
+ b l n X may therefore be the best method for describ-
ing the biomass production of major plant fractions.
Table 4 shows that the percentages of live branch
and leaf biomass increased with increasing espacement,
whereas that of stemwood declined. So the 1 m2 espace-
ment not only had the highest biomass per hectare, but
also had the largest percentage of stemwood. The per-
centage of bark biomass remained the same among
treatments despite the large differences in mean tree
DBHs.
Most of the biomass of the 1 m2 espacement was
found in small trees (Table 5). If one takes the 60 mm
DBH class as a reference point, only 40,9 % of the total
stem biomass of the 1 m2 espacement was found in
DBH classes 60 and over. For the other three treat-
ments the percentages were 81,4 %, 94,5 % and
98,8 %, respectively. The values for total biomass were
similar.

South African Forestry Journal- December 1984 37

 TABLE 5. Distribution of biomass among DBH classes for different sums of fractions

% Mass by DBH class

DBH classes (mm)

Biomass Treatment 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

1 0,38 3,21 12,00 13,06 30,45 25,43 8,85 6,62

Total 2 0,D2 0,25 0,78 5,73 11,80 26,19 33,04 16,11 6,06
stem 3 0,03 0,22 0,70 0,39 4,13 13,92 36,54 29,83 14,25
4 0,13 0,26 0,83 7,46 22,83 36,56 22,61 9,32
1 0,47 3,63 12,83 13,42 30,34 24,71 8,42 6,18
Total 2 0,D2 0,24 0,76 5,65 11,71 26,14 33,13 16,23 6,12
tree 3 0,02 0,19 0,63 0,36 3,96 13,61 36,41 30,19 14,63
4 0,13 0,25 0,81 7,40 22,75 36,57 22,70 9,39

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Much of the good growth of this trial came from proper
weed control. An experiment with E. grandis on a simi-
lar site at the Frankfort State Forest showed that at 21-
month-old trees growing in plots where weeds had been
completely controlled by spraying with glyphosate were
71 % taller then trees in the control plots (Kvitza and
Darrow, 1983).
Although the 1 m2 espacement had the largest total
biomass production for most plant fractions, the distri-
bution of this biomass in the small DBH classes will
have a profound effect on the viability of short rotation
biomass production systems. At present the harvesting
of biomass in the form of numerous small stems is still
in the experimental stage and will need considerable
work before such trees can be economically harvested
without damaging the stumps that are expected to cop-
pice for the new crop (Mattson, 1983). If more conven-
tional harvesting methods are used, such as would be
the case at present, the cost of the biomass delivered to
the point of use increases rapidly as stand stocking in-
creases and mean tree DBH decreases. Mattson (1983)
estimates that a ton of green chips from 10-year-old
hybrid poplar (Populus) planted at 0,6 x 0,6 m is 2,5
times as expensive as a ton harvested from a stand of
the same age planted at 2,4 x 2,4 m. Felling costs alone
are 12 times higher per ton for the closer espacement.
If one is limited to conventional harvesting
methods, the use of espacements larger than 1 m2 offers
considerable advantage. Although no costing data are
available, in the present experiment the 3 m2 espace-
ment looks most promising at two years of age. One
would harvest 10,8 % more stemwood than at the 4 m2
espacement and 6,0 % more in the DBH classes 50 mm
and larger. When compared with the 2 m2 espacement,
the 3 m2 treatment yields 9,3 % less stem biomass, but
2,6 % more stemwood in trees of 60 mm and over. The
exact value of these differences would depend upon
how much changes in the number of tons of chips pro-
duced per hectare would offset differences in establish-
ment and harvesting costs.
A matter of great concern about such "biomass
farming", as has been discussed, is the removal of nu-
trients from the site through the utilisation of the foli-
age as part of the crop. Very little information exists
about the nutrient content of very short rotation tree
crops in semi-tropical or tropical areas. Poggiani et at.
(1980) do point out, however, that in Brazil the total
dry biomass of 2,5-year-old E. grandis planted at 5 333
stems/ha consisted of 9 % leaf, 7 % branch and 83 %
stem biomass, but that the leaves contained 37 % of the
total nutrients in the stand, the branches 10 % and the
stems 53 %.
Although it is possible to replace the lost nutrients
by fertilisation, Zobel (1979) doubts whether the bio-
mass material gained through the harvesting of leaves is
worth the cost of replacing the nutrients lost. Consider-
ing that the leaves of this trial contained only 8 to 10 %
of the total biomass and had a moisture content of
283 %, the cost of obtaining a small extra amount of
dry, but poor quality, fiber could scarcely be worth the
value of the nutrients contained in them.
Since it would do little good to extract whole trees
from a stand and then to remove the leaves, harvesting
methods would have to be devised that would remove
the leaves in the stand. The simplest method would be
to cut off the stem where the living crown begins and to
leave it all in the plantation. The loss of stem, bark and
branch biomass from such a practice cannot be esti-
mated from this study, but considering the small and
shallow crowns that form on trees at dense stockings,
the loss of stem biomass would be relatively small.
If a mobile chipper can be used when harvesting
the stand, then the "commercial foliage" (leaves and
twigs <6 mm) separator could be used, although about
30 % of the foliage biomass removed would be stem-
wood and bark (Isebrands et al., 1979).
A more drastic alternative would be to spray the
stand with a contact herbicide to defoliate the trees
before harvesting. Waugh (1977) successfully defoli-
ated mature E. regnans in an attempt to reduce growth
stresses in the standing trees without killing them. Such
a defoliated eucalypt stand would be in the same advan-
tageous position as a stand of temperate hardwoods
after autumn leaf fall with much of its nutrient content
in t~e litter layer and not liable for removal during har-
vesting,

38 Suid-Afrikaanse Bosboutydskrif- Desember 1984

 As the first of this type of trial planted in South
Africa, the yields shown here do not represent the
"working maximum" (Cannel and Smith, 1980) for bio-
mass yield of Eucalyptus grandis grown under intensive
management. The use of clonal planting material from
superior E. grandis breeding stock, the ploughing or
ripping of the site, a heavier application and more
precise choice of fertiliser and perhaps irrigation during
the dry periods would have resulted in a very much
higher yield. Schonau et al. (1981) has already shown
the benefits of intensive site preparation in the growing
of E. grandis in plantations and Van Wyk (1983) has
shown the immense potential for genetically improving
the species to achieve greater yields per tree.
The next set of treatments will be felled at four
years' of age.
CONCLUSIONS
At the age of two years the closest espacement tested (1
2
m per tree) yielded the largest biomass for all plant
fractions except for leaves. A larger percentage of this
biomass was in stem wood and bark than in the other
three treatments. Most of this biomass, however, was
in trees of less than 60 mm DBH.
The 2 m2 espacement yielded the next largest total
biomass and the 3 m2 espacement the largest tonnage of
stem biomass in trees larger than 60 mm DBH. If con-
vential harvesting methods must be used to harvest
trees of this age, the 3 m2 espacement appears to offer
the best prospect for biomass production.
Very short rotation intensive biomass production
for fiber or fuel is a new field of research and many de-
cisions must be made and new techniques developed
before the obvious potential of such methods can be
realised.

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South African Forestry Journal- December 1984 39