# An Overview of the Current Situation of European Poplar Cultures with a Main Focus on Hungary
## 3 Results and Discussion
In the furniture industry, upholstery frames, panels, and other hidden components are produced from poplar, but they are also used to make log furniture. The poplars provide in Hungary the most important raw material for match production. The possibility of the use of hybrid poplars is the same as that of the native poplars, but their advantage is that their properties can be improved by genetic modification [20; 21]. Due to their poor mechanical strength, they are used less as building materials. For their broader use, it is important to improve their physical and mechanical properties [22]. Carrying out such procedures, e.g., heat treatment, several researchers [23; 24; 25; 26] have also achieved encouraging results. In most cases, the aim of breeding is to increase the wood yield, but in many cases, the shape of the trunk is an important aspect. Unfortunately, in general, breeders usually pay little attention to improving the physical and mechanical properties. For this reason, the density, compressive strength, tensile strength, and bending modulus of elasticity of native poplars are typically among the highest of all poplars, and in most cases, they are definitely higher than those of hybrids [27]. From the point of view of biomass utilization, poplar trees are widely grown in many countries and used by applying different technologies. Wood from the short-rotation plantation of poplars has economic and environmental benefits compared to coal and other fossil fuels [28]. Poplar short-rotation plantations are one of the most important biomass resources for energetic purposes [29], which occupy approximately 50,000 hectares of land in Europe [30]. In the last decade, in Hungary, short rotations (10-15 years) and even more intensive cultivation hybrid poplars have appeared in industrial wood plantations; their territory is currently approaching 5000 hectares. The utilization of poplars as biomass is their least value-added use. It would be much better to give more opportunities to this species in industrial processing. This would solve a number of problems, because on the forestry side, poplar logs can be produced with significantly higher value, and on the timber industry side, it would be easier to manage the growing demand for timber worldwide. In addition, plantation wood production methods and technologies can not only provide a solution to the growing demand for timber but also reduce the economic pressure on natural forests. Traditional forestry seeks to maintain near-natural conditions, and essentially, native species provide the biological basis for timber production. Plantation tree growing, on the other hand, focuses on the use of improved varieties that can be used in a cultivation technology environment adapted from intensive agriculture. For cultivated varieties, it is also necessary to assess the production values to determine the possible locations and production technologies for the new varieties and to determine the economic yield (wood yield) that can be expected while the technological conditions are maintained. In summary, the timber industry needs poplar plantations with longer cutting cycles and trunks with a good shape to reduce the proportion of juvenile wood and wood defects, which are the basic requirements for industrial timber. After a lot of breeding and material testing work, substitutes for conifers could even be produced, as the area of the latter is predicted to decline significantly in Europe over the next century [31].