Abstract
Appropriate management of factors that influence forest development is essential to increase yield of forest plantations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of water seasonality, nutritional management, and uniformity on yield of eucalyptus plantations and estimate the potential, attainable, and observed yield of adult eucalyptus stands. We evaluated Eucalyptus clonal stands in six regions of Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in a system of first and second rotation across four age classes using the twin-plots method (TP). In the study, 142 TPs were allocated alongside 142 plots in a continuous forest inventory (CFI) network of a private enterprise. The CFI received operational fertilization and additional fertilization was carried out in the TP. The trees were measured at the beginning of the experiment and at every six months to quantify the production in the wet (PW) and dry (PD) periods of the year. Uniformity of plantations was evaluated using Pvar 50 % and the optimal uniformity index. Potential, attainable, and observed yields were estimated using the average annual increase at seven years of age. The PW showed higher plant yield. There was an effect due to water availability and nutrient level on the yield of the stands. The driest semester of the year produces approximately 30 % of the current annual increase. The stands under the second rotation tend to have less uniformity than the in the first rotation. Potential yield varied depending on rainfall intensity where wetter regions had the highest yield.
Highlights
The adoption of adequate management of factors that influence plant growth provides gains in forest yield, mainly in terms of water availability (Binkley et al., 2017), which depends on rainfall seasonality that reduces forest yield during the dry periods
There was a regional effect with a growth variation in production in the wet (PW) from to 74 % (AF) and from 51 to 71 % (OF)
In the analysis using age classes (ACL), the greatest yield in PW occurred at younger ages, ranging from 61 (ACL4) to 73 % (ACL1) for operational fertilization (OF)
Summary
The adoption of adequate management of factors that influence plant growth provides gains in forest yield, mainly in terms of water availability (Binkley et al., 2017), which depends on rainfall seasonality that reduces forest yield during the dry periods. Regular supply of the correct amount of growth resources results in the greater survival of individual plants, which is essential for uniform planting and reaching attainable plantation yield (Stape et al, 2010; Resende et al, 2016; Soares et al., 2016). This highlights the importance of these variables in the evaluation of yield gains of forest plantations
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