Stand structure and growth of Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Jászkiséri’ – ‘Jászkiséri’ black locust

Abstract

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is one of the most widespread tree species introduced into Europe and also into Hungary. It covers 24% of the total Hungarian forest area, providing 25% of the annual timber output of the country. Due to the demands of consumers, new cultivars are to be produced by means of improvement techniques and are to be introduced into the practical forestry use. Mono- and multiclonal cultivars were developed, then variety comparison trials and cultivation tests were established. Based on preliminary yield tests the locust cultivar ‘Jászkiséri’ (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Jászkiséri’) proved to be one of the best black locust cultivars. Consequently, a more precise investigation of the stand structure of this cultivar may also make a significant contribution to the improvement of the relevant cultivation technology. In this study, based on full inventories of 13 stands in 7 subcompartments, age of 5 to 35 years, relationships of mean tree volume to diameter (R² = 0.9797) and basal area (R² = 0.9781), furthermore the relationship between mean tree volume and diameter of the stands (R² = 0.9993) were examined. Besides that, the comparison of 15-year-old ‘Jászkiséri’ and common black locust (a case study) were presented in this paper, where ‘Jászkiséri’ proved to be better: significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in diameter, mean tree volume and stem form.