Commercial Profitability of Poplar Plantation with Reference to the Damages Caused by Fungi

Abstract

Background and purpose: Due to the fact that poplar rotation is one of the shortest in forestry, and as production of poplar wood requires rational and well-planned management, the potentials of sites and species must be maximally utilised. The main characteristics of the procedure of investment in poplar cultivation, is the fact that the conditions for the beginning of production and their exploitation are not created simultaneously. The main goal of the work reported in this paper was to examine the financial effects of different discount rates on the cost-efficiency values of studied poplar plantation, based on an analysis of the present value of costs and revenues over a stated time period using different methods of investment appraisal. Material and methods: Investment Appraisal also known as Capital Budgeting is used to asses whether capital expenditure on particular poplar plantations will be beneficial for the entity or not. The investigated plantation was established from Populus x euramericana cl. I-214 on alluvial semigley, with planting spacing 6 x 3 m, aged 26 years, for technical wood production. The data used in this study were collected from the archives of the, according to the age at plantation established and from the management and materials books of the forest enterprise "Vojvodinasume". During two-year study, the material was collected from study plot in order to assess the density, distribution and significance of individual fungal organisms present in the plantation. Identification was based on the morphological characteristics of species. Results and conclusions: Under the calculation discount rate of 12%, the project for the production cycle of 26 years was not cost-effective from the economic aspect. The discount rate of 6% can be accepted in this studied plot because of the better sites (alluvial semigley) and youngness of the stand. For the studied sample plot IRR is 6.94. R for the r= 12% in the study compartment is 0.407. The analysis shows that PBP is practically unacceptable for the investor under the discount rate of 6%. In the studied plot altogether 11 species of fungi causing significant damages in hybrid poplar plantations were identified. Two were found on cortical tissue, 6 on leaves and 3 species are causing decay. Number of trees attacked with decaying fungi, like Fomes fomentarius, Trametes suaveolens, was bellow 2%/ two percentage.