Storing of Saplings of Salix Spp: Fid-Bau Portal

Storing of Saplings of Salix Spp

T. Thoernqvist

This investigation was initiated in order to determine the most appropriate form for storing logged energy wood that had been intensively cultivated. The trial consisted of: A) A chip pile of 85 m exp 3 s B) A pile of short lengths of wood (billets) of 100 m exp 3 s C) Saplings in bundles which were on average 4.9 meters long and 0.45 meters in diameter. The percentage of dry bark and wood in the chip pile was determined by taking eleven chip samples. The mean values show that the material consisted of 76 % wood and 17 % bark. The remaining 7 % was branches of less than 3 mm, and fines which could not be classified as bark or wood. These results also apply to the billets and bundles. The chips and the bundles were laid up immediately after felling and had an initial moisture content of 50.9 %. The billets were laid up six weeks later from wood which had been felled for one month. They had a moisture content of 46.7 % at the beginning of the trial. The mean moisture content after the storing time was for the chip pile estimated to 48.5 %, for the billet pile 36.2 % and for the bundles 36.5 %. In both the piles dry matter losses were greater in the moist zones than in the dry. Average loss of dry matter was 14.1 % for the chip pile, 5.8 % for the billets and 4.8 % for the bundles. After storage the energy value of the materials was reduced by 13 % for the chips but increased by 0.5 % for the billets and by 1.6 % for the bundles. During the storage time the total amount of viable fungal particles in the chip pile increased 690-16000 times, in the billets pile 15-830 times and in the bundles 14-66 times. (ERA citation 09:009601)