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Prediction models for above-ground wood of some fast growing trees of Nepal's eastern Terai

Publication Type  Journal Article
Year  1999
Authors  Thapa, H, B.
Journal  Banko Janakari
Volume  9
Pages  28-35
Abstract  

Biomass study of Acacia auriculiformis, A. catechu, Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. tereticornis was conducted on a five and half-year-old 'Fuelwood Species Trial under Short Rotation' through destructive sampling at Tarahara, Sunsari District of Nepal. The lowest Furnival Index (FI) was the main criteria for selecting a model. Among the six models tested, a transformed model from a power equation was selected. Selected prediction models of tree components and aboveground wood (green as well as oven dry), and their coefficient of determination (R2) values, regression constant and coefficient, correction factor, precision and bias percent of five species are presented. With the exclusion of branchwood models, R2 is higher in a range of 88.7% for oven dry stemwood of A. catechu to 99.3% for aboveground wood model of D. sissoo . However, R2 is less than 80% in branchwood (green and oven dry) of A. auriculiformis, E. camaldulensis and E. tereticornis showing moderate relationship between branchwood and diameter at breast height. In the case of E. tereticornis , precision is more than 49% which leads to low reliability in biomass estimation resulting in true biomass deviation in a range of approximately 49.51 to 56.74%, so biomass models could not be used for estimation of tree components and aboveground wood. Despite it, generally, precision percent of the selected models has been found less than 15%. Bias percent was found quite large for allometric branchwood model comparatively to stemwood and aboveground wood models. D. sissoo had less than 10% bias. Bias percent was the highest (23.11%) for green branchwood of A. auriculiformis . Others had in a range of 0.5% for green aboveground wood model of D. sissoo to 18.4% for green and oven dry branchwood models of E. tereticornis .