BILOGRUDIVSKY FOREST: EDUCATIONAL AND PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT OF THE UMANN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HORTICULTURE

Abstract

ITY OF HORTICULTUREAbstract. «Belogrudovskiy Forest» has been teaching and research production department of Uman National University of Horticulture, one of the oldest universities of Ukraine, for 154 years. Forest estate is located in Uman district of Chekasy region near the north-eastern outskirts of the city of Uman. Oak (Quercus robur L.), ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.), red oak (Quercus rubra L.), elm (Ulmus minor Mill.), locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), common spruce (Рисе abies (L.) H. Karst.), black poplar (Populus nigra L.), wild pear tree (Pyrus communis subsp. Pyraster (L.) EHRH.), little-leaved linden (Tilia cordata Mill.), Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia JACQ.), honey-locust thorny (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) are grown in it. Forest estate belongs to the forestry area of the Central Forest-Steppe of the Dnieper Upland of the Dniester- Dnieper Forest-Steppe forestry district with oak, hornbeam forests and meadow steppes. «Belogrudovskiy Forest» is widely known for Belogrudovskiy culture. This is the archaeological culture of a sedentary population of the late Bronze Age (11th-9th century BC) which was spread on the territory of Ukraine between the Dniester and the Dnieper rivers. The culture was discovered during the diggings in 1918-1927 near the village of Pikivets.It is currently known that «Belogrudovskiy culture» is widely represented in museums and literary sources of Ukraine.However, «Belogrudovskiy Forest» and its silvicultural experience, role and importance in forestry are almost unknown in the history of forestry of Ukraine, although it must occupy a prominent place due to its gathered forest experience.It was found while studying that the total area of the forest fund lands of the forest estate «Belogrudovskiy Forest» is 462,4 hectares with 8,2 hectares of shelterbelt plantings, 19,0 hectares of shelterbelt along national motorways and 435,2 hectares of forestry part of greenbelt. The area covered by the forest is 437,5 hectares or 95 % of the total area of the forest fund lands, 321,8 hectares of which are forest plantations which is 70 % and 116,1 hectares that is 30 % of natural plantations. The predominant type of growing conditions is fresh oak forests (F2), and the type of forest is fresh hornbeam (D2-HF) which occupies 95 % of the territory where natural and artificial plantations grow. The overwhelming majority of the lands covered by the forest (437,9 hectares) are under the plantations of oak - 330,8 hectares, ash - 46,7 hectares, 31,5 hectares of hornbeam, 21,5 hectares of red oak. The areas of the rest of the tree species are insignificant and serve as teaching and research objects. These are elm plantations (4,7 hectares), locust (2,6 hectares), common spruce (0,7 hectares), black poplar (0,6 hectares), wild pear tree (0,6 hectares), little-leaved linden (0,5 hectares), Chinese elm (0,3 hectares) and honey-locust thorny (0,2 hectares). The total reserve of forest estate plantations is 119,08 thousand cubic meters where reserve of stemwood oak plantations is 93,16 thousand cubic meters, ash, hornbeam and red oak 13,68, 10,24, and 2,26 thousand cubic meters, respectively. Considerably smaller reserve of the plantations of elm, locust and common spruce which is 0,79, 0,44 and 0,38 thousand cubic meters. Reserve share of ripe plantations is only 18 % of the total reserve. Plantations of ash (8,68), hornbeam (10,24) and locust (0,44) thousand cubic meters reached the age of ripeness. The age structure of plantations on the average is quite high - 64 years. At the same time, plantations of oak, ash, hornbeam, Chinese elm are 75 and 89 years old. Forest capacity is quite high - I, rarely II, and plantations of ash, red oak and common spruce grow according to їа,9 and їа,0 and only black poplar plantations grow according to III class of forest capacity. The density of plantations is in the range of 0,47-0,77 with an average density of 0,69. The density for oak plantations is 0.70 units. The absence of high-density plantations (0,8-1,0) affects the reserve of the area covered by forest negatively and, at the same time, the fulfillment the main functions - water regulation and soil protection by these plantations. The reserve stemwood was 272 m3ha-1, including 282 m3ha-1 of oak, 293 m3ha-1 of ash, 325 m3ha-1 of hornbeam and 524 m3ha-1 of common spruce. The dynamics of the change in the reserve of forest lands and areas covered by the forest do not differ significantly that is 3,5 and 3,6 m3ha-1, respectively. However, poplar plantation attracts attention, where the change of the reserve reaches to 12,3-12,5 m3ha-1 and the plantations of red oak, common spruce and honey- locust thorny, the change of the reserve of which varies from 3,9 to 4,5 m3ha-1.