Abstract
ABSTRACT For the development of nutrient budget models to recommend lime and fertilizers for agricultural and forestry crops, curves of plant growth and nutrient accumulation are required. Information about how nutrients are partitioned between the different plant organs is also necessary, but still scarce for pine in Brazil. This study evaluated the growth, biomass partitioning, and nutrient dynamics in pine forests in southern Brazil. To this end, we assessed unthinned 2, 4, 6, and 8-year-old stands of Pinus taeda L. Three plots of 20 × 30 m per stand were delimited, in which three trees of different classes of diameter at breast height (DBH) were chosen. These trees were measured, felled, and the weight of their fresh components (leaves, branches, bark, and wood) was evaluated. Samples of each tree compartment and from the forest litter were taken to determine dry weight and nutrient content. From trees of the mean DBH class, the roots were also collected and the dry weight and nutrient contents determined. The same sampling procedure was carried out with soil for physical and chemical characterization. Regression models were adjusted to estimate growth, nutrient uptake, and nutrient use efficiency of pine trees, based on data collected in this and previous studies. The equations developed in this research can be used in nutrient budget models as well as in other simulation models, to establish recommendations of lime and fertilizers for Pinus taeda stands in southern Brazil.
Highlights
The most commonly planted pine species in Brazil, Pinus taeda and Pinus elliottii, are well-adapted to the low availability of soil nutrients (Viera and Schumacher, 2009)
The equations developed in this research can be used in nutrient budget models as well as in other simulation models, to establish recommendations of lime and fertilizers for Pinus taeda stands in southern Brazil
The dry weight values of the trunk and its components were more reliably estimated when the cylindrical volume was used as only independent variable
Summary
The most commonly planted pine species in Brazil, Pinus taeda and Pinus elliottii, are well-adapted to the low availability of soil nutrients (Viera and Schumacher, 2009). The traditional approach to the establishment of criteria for lime and fertilizer recommendations for agricultural or forestry crops is based on correlation and calibration studies (Alvarez V, 1996). This approach requires the implementation of extensive experimental networks for the elaboration of tables for interpretation of soil analysis results, a condition that can be a strong limitation in the case of poorly studied, longcycle species, such as pine. The assumption behind these models is: there is a close relation between nutrient availability in the soil and tree nutrient accumulation and tree growth
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