%0 Journal Article
%T Water Productivity of Poplar and Paulownia on Two Sites in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia
%A Niels Thevs
%A Clara Baier
%A Kumar Aliev
%J Journal of Water Resource and Protection
%P 293-308
%@ 1945-3108
%D 2021
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/jwarp.2021.134018
%X As Central Asia is a region with wide spread water scarcity as a result of excessive irrigation of agriculture, land use changes deserve research about potential impacts on the already strained water resources. Poplars have a long tradition as agroforestry tree across Central Asia, while paulownia is new to the region, but has been gaining extreme attention as a potential plantation and/or agroforestry tree. Therefore, the water productivity of those two tree species is investigated here on 3-year-old trees, in order to provide insights in how far the newly introduced Paulownia could put additional strain on water resources compared to paulownia. Poplar (<em>P. deltoides</em> ¡Á <em>nigra</em>) increased the stem biomass by 5.4 kg at an average water consumption of 4.18 l/d (water productivity 6.79 g/l). Paulownia¡¯s (<em>Paulownia tomentosa</em> ¡Á <em>fortunei</em>) stem biomass grew by 4.81 kg at 2.36 l/d in average (water productivity 11.9 g/l). Expanding paulownia would not exert more pressure on Central Asia¡¯s water resources than an expansion of poplar.
%K Fast-Growing Trees
%K Water Consumption
%K Sap Flow
%K Central Asia
%K Semi-Arid Climate
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=108270