South Western Journal of Vol.4 , No.1, 2013 Horticulture, Biology and Environment pp. 35-42 P-Issn: 2067- 9874, E-Issn: 2068-7958 © South west J Hortic Biol Environ Craiova, Romania COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF ROMANIAN AND INTRODUCED SALIX CULTIVARS FOR SHORT ROTATION COPPICE Ion BOTU 1 , Mihai BOTU 1,2 , Silvia PREDA 1 , Gheorghe ACHIM 1,2 , Andreea LAZĂR 1 and Anca ALECU 1 1. SCDP Vâlcea, University of Craiova, 464 Calea lui Traian Street, Rm. Vâlcea 240273, Romania 2. Dept. of Horticulture and Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Craiova, 13 Al. I. Cuza Street, Craiova 200585, Romania * Corresponding author, M. Botu, E-mail: stpomvl@onix.ro ABSTRACT. Willow cultivars have potential to be used as biomass sources for energy production. This study is focused on evaluation of 4 willow cultivars (‘Fragisal’, ‘Robisal’, ‘Pesred’ and ‘Cozia 1’) selected from local flora of Romania. The cultivars were named by University of Craiova – SCDP Vâlcea and CET Govora as a result of a research project. The 4 Romanian cultivars were tested in a trial along with 2 Swedish willow cultivars: ’Tordis’ and Inger’. Romanian cultivars produced high biomass yields comparable with the foreign varieties and proved less susceptible to leaf rust. Romanian willow cultivars proved valuable, better adapted to local environment conditions and suited to be grown in SRC type cultures. KEYWORDS: Salix, willow, cultivars, SRC, biomass INTRODUCTION Production of clean energy was a necessity and concern over 3 decades ago when some countries have been doing research for replacing fossil fuels with biomass produced by some woody plants and grasses (Armstrong 1999, Larsson 2001, Lindegaard et al. 2001, Karp et al. 2011). http://anucraiova.3x.ro/swjhbe/index.html 2013