PERSPECTIVES OF USE OF LARCH FOR CREATION OF FOREST PLANTATIONS IN THE CONDITIONS OF UKRAINE

The effective direction of reducing the deficit of wood in Ukraine is the introduction of fast growing tree species in forest plantations. Larch is one of these species. The purpose of the research was to study the performance of larch stands in different soil-climatic conditions of Ukraine and to establish the expediency of its wider use for the creation of forest plantations. In carrying out researches traditional forestry and forest biometry methods were used. Two species of larch occur in forest plantations of Ukraine: Larix decidua Mill., Larix leptolepis Gord) and their hybrid Larix eurolepis Henry. The authors have defined that larch dominates aboriginal species by intensity of growth at all age stages. Therefore, the stock of wood directly depends on the proportion of its trees in the composition of the plantation. In the 8‑20-year-old plantations the hybrid larch presents the most intense growing (If – Ie classes of bonitet). Larix decidua and Larix leptolepis grow in the Ib – Іd classes of bonitet. Maximum indexes of the average change in stock of larch stands are observed at 40-year-old age. Thus, in order to obtain small and medium varieties of wood forest plantation of larch can be oriented to the age of the main felling 41‑50 years. In the plantations of the 51‑70-year-old Larix decidua continues intensive growth (Ia – Іd classes of bonitet), which is generally determined by the trophy of forest-soil conditions. In ripe and overgrown forest stands, larch retains a high growth intensity, although it grows only under the Ia – Ib classes of bonitet. In Polissya, Forest-Steppe zone and the Carpathians in the wet and fresh sugubrava and oak forest conditions the larch plantations are characterized by high stocks of stem wood, while retaining a high intensity of growth to a perennial age, which, along with the high quality of wood, makes them perspective species for the creation of traditional artificial woodlands, and forest plantations. Lack of rainfall is one of the main factors limiting the expansion of anthropogenic larch area to the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.