Sustainable biomass production of introduced spruce species plantations under climate change

Key message The Picea abies dendromass production can be replaced by introduced spruce species where the Picea omorika showed the highest biomass production and resistance to climate change in central European conditions. Abstract Climate change has a major impact on the availability of sustainable wood production. From the perspective of dendromass processing, the most important European species is Norway spruce ( Picea abies [L.] Karst.), whose stands have been subject to large-scale dieback in recent years. This situation requires partial replacement. In our comprehensive study, we evaluate the potential for replacement of P. abies by Picea mariana [Mill.] Britt., Sterns and Poggenburg (black spruce), Picea omorika [Pančić] Purk. (Serbian spruce), and Picea pungens Engelm. (blue spruce), growing under the same conditions in an Antonín forest plantation (area 165 ha, 51 years old) in Czechia, planted after the reclamation of a spoil heap. The following characteristics were evaluated on the 18 permanent research plots: biomass production potential, carbon sequestration, growth resistance to climate change based on dendrochronological analyses, and selected physical and mechanical properties providing a basic idea of the quality of the feedstock for the timber industry. The highest biomass production was achieved by P. omorika (150 t ha −1 ) and the lowest by P. mariana (77 t ha −1 ). P. mariana was also found to be the least resistant to climatic extremes. In contrast, P. omorika showed stable, uniform growth, and high resistance, especially to prolonged dry periods. In terms of wood parameters, the highest quality values were found in the case of native P. abies values in terms of strength (45.4 MPa) and density (503 kg m −3 ), followed by P. omorika (40.2 MPa and 504 kg m −3 ). P. omorika showed the greatest homogeneity of growth, production potential, resistance to climate change, high technical quality of the raw wood material. P. omorika clearly represents a suitable alternative to the native P. abies , whereas P. mariana and P. pungens are not suitable substitutes for growing under Central European conditions.