ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Effect of Chemical Soil Properties
on Weed Infestation Structure in Willow
(Salix L.) Short-Rotation Coppice
Mariola Wróbel1, Andrzej Gregorczyk2, Jacek Wróbel3
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1Department of Botany and Nature Protection,
2Department of Agronomy,
3Department of Plant Physiology,
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Słowackiego 17, 71-434 Szczecin, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(6):1893-1899
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Differences in soil and habitat conditions, depending on the type of soil on which shrubby species of
willow Salix L. are being grown for energy purposes, are reflected in weed infestation species diversity and
the distinctiveness of these crops, and require an individual program of control and reduction of the abundance
of competitive herbaceous vegetation. Our study aimed at determining soil parameters that have the greatest
effect on weed infestation structure in a plantation of basket willow (Salix L.) coppice. The following chemical
soil properties were taken into account as environmental variables: soil pH, soil moisture content, and
humus, total nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus content. Field research was carried out at five plantations of
fast-growing basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) hybrids of the genotypes jorr, sprint, and turbo situated on disposal
sites of sandy silts and sewage sludge-fertilized silts as well as fallow post-farmland and grassland.
Obtained research results indicate soil reaction and soil moisture as factors that have the biggest effect on
diversity of competitive herbaceous vegetation accompanying energy willow coppices.