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Effects of region, soil, land use, and terrain type on fuelwood properties of five tree/shrub species in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones of Mali

  • Original Paper
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Abstract

• Context

There is little information about inter- and intra-specific variation in fuelwood properties of trees/shrubs in West Africa.

• Aims

We studied variation in fuelwood properties of Balanites aegyptiaca, Combretum glutinosum, Guiera senegalensis, Piliostigma reticulatum, and Zizyphus mauritiana in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones of Mali.

• Methods

Trees were sampled on different soil (sandy, sandy/loam, or rocky), land use (parkland agroforest or woodland), and terrain (flat, temporarily flooded, or hill slope) types in five regions extending from the drier eastern to the more humid western parts of Mali. Basic density, volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content, moisture content, gross calorific value, and fuel value index were measured for each tree and adjusted for tree age.

• Results

All fuelwood properties differed significantly among species, but there were significant species by region interactions. Most fuelwood properties of four species differed significantly among regions. Soil and/or land use type had significant effects on a few fuelwood properties of four species.

• Conclusion

In general, fuelwood production is recommended in all regions for G. senegalensis, in drier regions for B. aegyptiaca and C. glutinosum, in more humid regions for Z. mauritiana, and on rocky soils for all species. Fuelwood production of P. reticulatum is not recommended.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the team in the Laboratory of Energy of Biomass (LEB) at Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR: Fernanda Marchiori, Rodrigo Medeiros Ribeiro, Sandra Lucia Soares Mayera), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for providing laboratory facilities in Mali, Jane Poole for statistical advice, and the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by a post-doctoral research grant from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to the first author, and funds from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Sahel Office, B. P. E 5118, Bamako, Mali

    Carmen Sotelo Montes, John C. Weber & Antoine Kalinganire

  2. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Lothário Meissner, 900, CEP: 80270-170, Curitiba, Brazil

    Dimas A. Silva, Clarice Andrade & Graciela I. B. Muñiz

  3. Instituto de Florestas, Departamento de Produtos Florestais, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR 465, km 07, 23890-000, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rosilei A. Garcia

Authors
  1. Carmen Sotelo Montes
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  2. John C. Weber
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  3. Dimas A. Silva
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  4. Clarice Andrade
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  5. Graciela I. B. Muñiz
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  6. Rosilei A. Garcia
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  7. Antoine Kalinganire
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmen Sotelo Montes.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Shuqing Zhao

Contribution of the co-authors

Carmen Sotelo Montes: project design, field work, sample preparation, data collection (geographical coordinates, age, density), data analysis, writing the paper. John C. Weber: project design, field work, supervision of data analysis, writing the paper. Dimas A. Silva, Clarice Andrade, Graciela I.B. Muñiz: data collection (volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content, moisture content, gross and net calorific values). Rosilei A. Garcia: coordination of work with universities in Brazil, reviewing the paper. Antoine Kalinganire: reviewing the paper

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Sotelo Montes, C., Weber, J.C., Silva, D.A. et al. Effects of region, soil, land use, and terrain type on fuelwood properties of five tree/shrub species in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones of Mali. Annals of Forest Science 69, 747–756 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-012-0195-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-012-0195-2

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