Abstract

P. deltoides is one of the major commercially grown species for production of peeling logs in India. Currently around 35 million poplar saplings are planted annually on farmland in integration with agriculture crops in North India. A significant share of poplar logs is used for peeling fresh/green without storage. This study presents clonal variation in moisture content in freshly felled logs of 14 clones and also in 1st basal log to 7th sequential log made from the main stem. Moisture content both on dry weight and fresh weight basis had significant differences among the studied clones. WIMCO 81 recorded significantly higher tree height (22.24m) and DBH (27.72cm) whereas WSL 42 recorded significantly low height (18.51m) and DBH (19.34cm). Moisture Content on Dry Weight Basis (MCDW) varied from a maximum of 128.34% in WIMCO 81 to a minimum of 83.15% in S7C4 whereas on fresh weight basis (MCFW) it varied from 55.21 in WSL 39 to 45.17% in S7C4. There was a gradual and significant decrease in MCDW and MCFW from 1st to 7th log with basal 1st log recording a maximum of 115.71% MCDW and 53.49% MCFW. Maximum of 49.34% MCFW was recorded in 1st basal log and a minimum of 48.34% MCFW in 6th log. Both MCDW and MCFW formed 3 homogeneous groups i.e., a, b, & c and within each group there were non-significant differences among clones.

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