Growth and yield models, assortment type and analysis of deadwood in chestnut coppice

Chestnut (Castanea sativa MILL.) is one of the most important forest tree species in Europe, and it is considered a symbol of the natural vegetation in southern Europe. In Calabria (southern Italy) chestnut forest covers an area of approximately 87000 hectares, most of which (about 80%) managed as coppice. In this study a growth and yield table has been elaborated. Thurthermore, assortment type and quantity of deadwood have been evaluated according to age of coppice and forest fire prevention, respectively. The study site is located in the “Presila of Catanzaro” and the research was carried out in 15 plots; the age of the examined stands ranged from 2 to 50 years old. More than 30000 shoots per hectare were recorded in the first two years after coppicing. As opposed, about 2300 and 1000 shoots per hectare were observed 15 and 50 years after coppicing, respectively. The culmination of the mean annual increment of the forest standing volume (16 m3 ha-1 year-1) was highlighted 25 years after coppicing, while the current annual increment culmination (21 m3 ha-1 year-1) was observed at 15 years. Fifteen years after coppicing, most of the wood production was constituted by small dimension assortments. Twenty five years after coppicing small and large poles were the prevailing assortments while telegraph poles and timber beams increased after 50 years. The amount of deadwood in forest ranged between 11.9 and 68.7 m3 ha-1. The largest component was represented by standing dead shoots. The results show that coppice management can be adopted even if the main purpose of the chestnut stand is the production of large size assortments. In chestnut coppice, highly vulnerable to fire, the reduction of stand density with silvicultural practices (thinning and displacement) is the main way to promote the efficiency of forest and a higher strength and resiliency against forest fire.