Fertilization during the establishment of a Eucalyptus camaldulensis plantation in the northern Brazilian Amazon.

Abstract

Forestry plantations should be regarded as an alternative sustainable land-use system in degraded savannah areas. They contribute to the maintenance of productive processes in degraded soils that are of economic importance for local inhabitants; in addition, in the ecological sense, timber and non-timber products from planted forests reduce the exploitation pressure on native forests. Eucalyptus plantations on degraded savannahs in the northern Brazilian Amazon may help to reduce exploitation pressure on native forests. However, there is no information regarding the nutrients rates that would allow faster eucalyptus growth in that region. A trial was installed in an Yellow Latosol (Oxisol) soil type adopting a one-half-type fractional factorial design with four ates of N, P, and K. Functions were adjusted for the dependent variables height, diameter at breast height (DBH), leaf tissue nutrient content, and soil-chemical attributes. Interaction N versus K was observed on tree height with a maximum of 7.8 m recorded at 200 kg ha-1 of N and 50 kg ha-1 of K. Phosphorus fertilization promoted greater DBH growth with maximum value at 120 kg ha-1 of P; however, the highest gain was obtained at 30 kg ha-1 of P. The NPK rates that maximized Eucalyptus camaldulensis growth were 200, 30, and 50 kg ha-1, respectively.