The correlation in the dynamics of the growth of European spruce and the dynamics of potato and winter rye yields

Abstract

The subject of the study was the meteorological conditionality of fluctuations in the radial growth of European spruce in a single local old-age stand, as well as the conjugacy in fluctuations in the growth indices of European spruce and crop yield indices (winter rye, potatoes) over an 80-year time interval. The study uses time series of yields of winter rye (Secale cereale L.) and potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) obtained in the long-term experience of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy (originally laid down by D.N. Pryanishnikov) for the period 1912-1991. The long chronology of the European spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) was obtained on the basis of cuts selected after the wind in the Alekseevskaya grove of the Losiny Ostrov National Park and covers the period 1812-2017. To identify the conjugacy between fluctuations in the indices of radial growth of spruce and meteorological parameters, as well as to identify the conjugacy in fluctuations in the indices of growth of spruce and Correlation analysis was used for the yield indices of winter rye and potatoes. Correlation analysis showed that the formation of spruce growth is positively influenced by elevated temperatures in December and January, negatively affected by elevated temperatures in June in the calendar year of the formation of the annual ring and elevated temperatures in August in the year preceding it. Reliable correlation coefficients of spruce growth indices with monthly precipitation amounts were not found in the ecotope under consideration. Significant correlations were revealed between the dynamics of spruce growth indices and the dynamics of crop yields: the relationship with potato yields in the experiment without lime, without crop rotation and with the application of NPK fertilizers and manure (correlation coefficient 0.22) and the relationship with rye yields in the experiment without lime, without crop rotation and without fertilizers (correlation coefficient 0.23).