Speaker
Description
Recultivation is an essential task in the management of Short Rotation Forestry (SRF) poplar, which is grown on arable land and is generally integrated within a crop rotation system. This task involves destroying the poplar stumps and tilling the soil down to a depth that is suitable for establishing a new farm crop. Recultivation can be performed using versatile heavy forestry mulchers that simultaneously mulch the soil and remove stumps. The objective of this study was to develop long-term benchmark performance metrics for industrial mulchers used in the recultivation of SRF poplar. The study involved the collection of long-term data on a forestry mulcher working on 486 ha of harvested SRF poplar stands. Data were collected across 18 sites in Germany and Slovakia by maintaining detailed, site-specific logs for two years. Data recorded included position, time use, and fuel consumption, number of teeth replaced, soil type, and resprouting class. The data were analyzed using bootstrapping, allowing robust calculation of means, confidence intervals and regression models despite the low number of sites and non-normal data. The results show that mean fuel, time and teeth consumption were respectively 181 L ha-1, 3.26 h ha-1, 7.47 teeth 10xha-1. The number of passes and soil type significantly affected fuel consumption, time consumption, and tooth wear. In contrast, resprouting and field size did not significantly affect the same dependent variables. The study's findings provide key benchmark figures for planning and estimating the cost of SRF poplar recultivation
| Keywords | plantation; SRF; termination; fuel |
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