Agroforestry-Altemative use of marginallands in the future

Agroforestry is a land use system practiced thousands of years ago. Recently, due to the modified economic
and enνironmental developments there is an increased interest for this system in the temperate zone. The present research has as objectives to investigate the simultaneous production of wood and animal products. With this system, abandoned marginal lands can be brought into the production process. In our experiments wild cherry (Pnιnus aviuιn) was used. Tree spacing, establishment techniques, tree protection techniques as well as the means of reducing herbaceous competition were studied. Four years after the establishment wild cherry in plastic tubes had higher height but smaller diameter (2,7 m and 1,4 cm) compared to the free growing trees (2.4 m and 1.5 cm). Cover of herbaceous species close to the cherry trees was reduced by 91.2%, 90.5% and 74% respectively when applying the herbicide “Rundup”. the soil was covered with black color plastic sheet or cultivated manually. Forage nutritive value was higher in the treatments where grazing was applied. The cost of establishment of the agroforestry systems was lower compared to forest establishment due to the lower number of trees required.