Theses and Dissertations

Justin Pitts

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Renninger, Heidi

Committee Member

Rousseau, Randy

Committee Member

Siegert, Courtney

Date of Degree

8-7-2020

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Forestry

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Forestry

Abstract

Species in the genus Populus (poplars) have shown the potential to be utilized as short rotation woody crops for bioenergy production in the Southeast. A lack of knowledge on which poplar taxa perform best on marginal sites throughout the Southeast exists. Through measurement of relationships between growth metrics, water usage and physiological parameters of 2400 poplar trees, I was able to assess: 1) early rotation suitability of numerous poplar varietals to be grown as bioenergy feedstocks in northeast Mississippi, and 2) the effectiveness of early rotation physiological parameters in predicting future productivity and water usage. Overall findings from this study suggest that trees with D x M parentage may be best fit for large-scale plantation growth in the Southeast. They demonstrated low mortality and collectively grew the tallest of all taxa. Early-rotation physiology demonstrated mixed results in predicting future growth and water usage. Findings from this study will be used in future bioenergy feedstock selection.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18033

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