Differentiation of Dust Holding Capacity of Poplar Crowns

Abstract

One of the key parameters of comfort and compliance with sanitary standards for cities is dustiness of atmosphere. Plantings of representatives of the poplar genus (Populus L.) become a reliable means of optimizing this parameter. We have studied the effectiveness of using different types of poplars in urban plantings, taking into account the differentiation of crown sections by the ability to deposit dust on the surface of the leaf apparatus. The object of research is 8 species from different sections of the poplar genus, typically found in urban plantings of the Nizhny Novgorod region. We considered the influence of three independently of one another factors on the dispersion of dust holding capacity: species-specificity of poplars (8 gradations); lighting conditions of crown due to its orientation relative to the cardinal directions (4 gradations); height characteristics of the crown tier location (3 gradations). Dust was washed off from 100 leaves of each poplar species with their fixed area. The highest amount of dust in the flushes was observed for silver poplar (257.60±5.05 mg), and the lowest – for black poplar (117.69±3.65 mg) and Pópulus nígra var. itálica (105.69±2.90 mg). Oneway ANOVA confirmed the significance of differences between the species for all parameters of dust holding capacity. Three-way ANOVA showed the influence of leaf surface locations in different parts of the crown on the efficiency of dust deposition by representatives of different species. Species appeared to be the most important in the distribution of dust deposited on the leaf surface of shoots in different parts of the crown; the share of its influence was 37.65±0.51 %. The effect of crown lighting conditions was also well measurable; its share was equal to 20.45±0.28 %. The influence of the crown tier height was noticeably less; its share reached 7.19±0.21 %. The listed factors are little related to each other, and their interaction generated a negligible effect: 6.67±4.54 %, Fh2 = 1.47, significance is reliable at 5 % level (F05 = 1.41) and unreliable at 1 % level (F01 = 1.61). For citation: Besschetnova N.N., Besschetnov P.V. Differentiation of Dust Holding Capacity of Poplar Crowns. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 5, pp. 48–64. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-5-48-64