Growth of Populus and Salix Species under Compost Leachate Irrigation

According to the known broad variation in remediation capacity, three plant species were used in the experiment: two fast growing poplar’s clones - Populus deltoides, Populus euramericana, and willows Salix alba. Populus and Salix cuttings were collected from the nursery of the Populus Research Center of Safrabasteh in the eastern part of Guilan province at north of Iran. The Populus clones were chosen because of their high biomass production capacity and willow- because it is native in Iran. The highest diameter growth rate was exhibited for all three plant species by the 1:1 treatment with an average of 0.26, 0.22 and 0.16 cm in eight months period for P. euroamericana, P. deltoides and S. alba, respectively. Over a period of eight months a higher growth rate of height was observed in (P) and (1:1) treatment for S. alba (33.70 and 15.77 cm, respectively) and in (C) treatment for P. deltoides (16.51 cm). P. deltoides and S. alba produced significantly (p<0.05) smaller aboveground biomass in (P) treatment compared to all species. P. deltoides exhibited greater mean aboveground biomass in the (1:1) treatment compared to other species. There were significant differences (p