Collection, identification and morphological - phonological evaluation of Willows accessions at Kurdistan province of Iran

In order to collect, identify and evaluate the morphological and phonological characteristics of Willows (Salix sp.) accessions of Kurdistan province of I.R. Iran, the trial was conducted during seven years, started from 2001. After identifying and recording characteristics of elite mother trees of willows at their natural habitats, cuttings were collected and planted at Zale nursery at Sanandaj city during three years (2003-2005). Transplantation of 2/2 saplings (two year old root and shoot) to collection was made by nine saplings per plot by a 3 x 3 m. spacing at early April for three years (2003-2005). The phenological, botanical and morphological characteristics were recorded at nursery and collection, regularly. Diameter and height growth was recorded annually at thr end of autumn. Results showed that willows grow at all ecological parts of Kurdistan province, such as urban margins, fields, valleys and particularly river banks. Overall, 65 accessions of willow species were collected from different habitats, which 58 are well established at the collection and seven were eliminated at different stages. The collected cuttings during March performed better than the ones collected during April and May. The 58 established accessions at collection belonged to five species as follows: Salix excelsa (38.6 %), S. alba (36.8 %), S. triandra (17.5 %), S. aegyptica (5.3 %) and S. babylonica (1.7 %), of which the first three species consisted more than 90 percent of Salix species at Kurdistan province. The variance analysis result showed that there were significant differences between the even-aged accessions, different species, and different age groups at the collection in respect to diameter and height growth (ρ< 0.01). Overall, diameter and height performance of Salix excelsa (14.08 cm and 7.9 m.), S. triandra (12.91 cm and 7.09 m.) were better than S. alba (12.5 cm and 6.43 m.)