Determinazione degli assortimenti ritraibili dai boschi cedui di castagno: l’esempio della Bassa Vallle di Susa (Torino)

Chestnut (Castanea sativa L.) coppice stands currently cover about 195.000 ha of Piedmont (North-Western Italy) surface, corresponding to 22.4 % of the overall forested area in the region. Most of these forest stands are usually older than the typical rotation period. As a consequence from these stands timber assortments with a higher value could be obtained. The purpose of this study is to assess the amount of timber assortments and to propose a sorting methodology based on measurements on standing trees within these chestnut stands.Five study areas were selected in the Susa Valley, where forest measurements were realized within sampling plots. Timber assortments obtainable from each coppice shoot were then determined by means of the Bitterlich’s relascope. More than 1.000 timber logs were measured. The data elaboration allowed to assess the timber assortment production of the investigated stands. The proposed methodology makes it possible to better exploit timber assortments. In fact, while usually the whole production from chestnut coppices is directly destined to secondary products, the subdivision into assortments could result in a 20 % of products with higher commercial value. It is important to notice that within these stands no tending operation is currently realized. The definition of qualitative features to classify timber assortments can provide useful suggestions on the main yield targets that could be reached through silvicultural management.