Wood energy quality of Eucalyptus spp. clones established under different soil types in the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

The evaluation of wood energy quality of Eucalyptus clones planted in different edaphoclimatic conditions is fundamental to promote the sustainable expansion of energy forests to traditionally non-forest regions. This study aimed to evaluate the wood energy characteristics (proximate analysis, elemental analysis, higher heating value, basic and energy densities) from five Eucalyptus spp. clones planted in Latosol and Haplic Plinthosol soils in the Brazilian Cerrado (Savannah), considered a traditionally non-forest region. The wood basic and energetic densities are influenced by genotype (clone) but not influenced by the soil type (site). The higher heating value and the proximate analysis showed a significant effect of interaction between clone and soil type. Thus, for these wood energy variables, the clones behave differently depending on the growing location (soil type). Our results indicate that the clone with Eucalyptus cloeziana genes has the greatest energy potential because of the best wood quality: low ash (0.11%–0.09%), nitrogen contents (0.24%–0.31%), higher basic density (490.60–487.22 kg·m−1), and energy density (9720.5–9589.1 MJ·m−1), for soil types Latosol and Plinthosol.