Could the Content of Soluble Carbohydrates in the Young Shoots of Selected Willow Cultivars Be a Determinant of the Plants’ Attractiveness to Cervids (Cervidae, Mammalia)?

Ten willow cultivars grown in experimental plots were evaluated for performance, attractiveness to foragers, and the content and composition of soluble carbohydrates. The survival of willow cuttings in a thicket and in browse plots differed subject to cultivar, soil quality, and soil moisture content. The number of stump sprouts varied considerably, from 1.1 shoots in the weakest soils in Słonin, Poland, to 3.43 in the plot in Czempin, Poland. Browse plots were established in 2017. They were cut, and fencing was removed in early spring of 2019. Young shoots (10 cm shoot tip with buds, preferably eaten by animals) were sampled for analyses of soluble carbohydrates as potential attractors for foraging cervids. All willow cultivars contained the same soluble carbohydrates: glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose, <i>myo</i>-inositol, galactinol, and raffinose. Total carbohydrate content ranged from 21.31 (<i>S. amygdalina</i> 1045) to 69.37 mg/g⁻¹ DM (dry matter) (<i>S. purpurea</i>). Glucose was the predominant soluble sugar in the shoots of all willow cultivars, excluding <i>S. viminalis</i>. The fructose content of the shoots was approximately twice lower than their glucose content in all willow cultivars. Smaller differences were observed in the content of <i>myo</i>-inositol, which ranged from 4.61 (<i>S. amygdalina</i> 1045) to 8.26 mg/g⁻¹ DM (<i>S. fragilis</i> cv. Kamon/Resko). The phloem of all willow species contained small quantities of galactinol and trace amounts of raffinose. Weak negative correlations were noted between total carbohydrate content, the content of glucose, fructose, and galactose vs. the attractiveness of willow shoots to foraging cervids. The remaining carbohydrates that occurred in smaller quantities in willow shoots were not correlated with their attractiveness to cervids.