Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) Short-Rotation Energy Crops in Hungary: A Review

the importance of the establishment of short-rotation tree plantations for fuel production has been of international interest for many years. in this context, in hungary, these plantations have been conducted for a long time. in this country, the black locust (robinia pseudoacacia l.) is one of the most important stand-forming tree species, covering approximately 23% of the forested land (410 000 ha) and providing about 19% of the annual timber output. this paper describes an experimental energy plantation that was established in helvécia (central-hungary, sand-soil region) using common black locust and its improved cultivars. the site may be considered as representative of an average yield class for black locust in hungary. the experimental plantation was established with a spacing of 1.5 m x 1.0 m and included common black locust and two cultivars, 'üll？i' and 'jászkiséri, as well as a plot regenerated by coppice. at the age of 7, the highest annual increment in stem oven-dry mass was produced by the cultivar 'üll？i' (9.7 mg ha-1 yr-1) followed by the common black locust (8.4 mg ha-1 yr-1) and the cultivar 'jászkiséri (7.6 mg ha-1 yr-1). in the plot of coppice origin, dendromass ranged from 6 to 8 mg ha-1 yr-1 on an average.