Relevance of the Topic. To increase Ukraine's energy independence, a significant role is allocated to bioenergy, which could meet a considerable portion of the energy needs of agricultural enterprises [37, 28]. Moreover, the development of bioenergy could help address many energy, environmental, and social issues [83, 27]. The development and implementation of technologies for obtaining energy from biomass are effective means of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, which will provide Ukraine with real energy and economic independence [2].
For Ukraine, the most promising bioenergy crops are sugar beets, sweet sorghum, switchgrass, miscanthus [69, 81], willow, and poplar [114, 119, 91]. The cultivation of these crops will provide fuel equivalent to 0.72 to 4.1 tons per hectare of petroleum products [1]. Among woody plants, willow is currently used worldwide as the primary energy crop, enabling the creation of highly productive plantations with a long lifespan [183, 180]. In Ukraine, several varieties of energy willow, both domestic and foreign, are recommended for cultivation. Literature provides sufficient information on the use of energy willow for biofuel production, its cultivation, soil requirements, fertilization, agrotechnics, and propagation methods. In the USA, poplar plantations exceed those of energy willow because the dry mass yield of poplar is 1.1–2.1 times higher than that of willow. However, it is considered appropriate to increase the area of such plantations due to their high ecological potential [177, 131, 47].
Over the past decades, global interest in the use of alternative energy sources has significantly increased. One of the promising directions in the development of renewable energy sources is biomass cultivation. In several developed European countries, special government programs support the development of the bioenergy sector [100].
Ensuring efficiency in obtaining energy willow raw material depends on soil and climatic conditions, the selection of high-yielding species (varieties) adapted to these conditions, and the development of effective technological schemes for the establishment, cultivation, and operation of plantations [45, 64, 149].
However, there is no information on the harvesting, storage of planting material of energy willow, and the impact of its quality on productivity formation. Research into these technological elements will create favorable conditions for the maximum survival rate of willow cuttings or shoots and increase the propagation coefficient of planting material. The use of absorbents during the planting of cuttings would ensure the availability of sufficient moisture during drought periods, reduce fluctuations in water supply to plants during the growing season, and thus significantly increase seedling yield.
In Ukraine, given the significant problems with the supply of traditional energy sources, along with favorable soil and climatic conditions and strong farming traditions, the production of energy plant biomass has great potential and will further reduce the need to import solid biofuels. The large-scale implementation of energy willow cultivation is not possible without the availability of sufficient quantities of high-quality planting material. Therefore, developing technological elements that ensure the production of high-quality cuttings or shoots is highly relevant.
