Wood properties of loblolly pine grown under intensive management in the Upper Coastal Plain of southwest Georgia

Abstract

Loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.) productivity over the past century has increased significantly from genetic improvements and more intensive management practices. The current study concludes a series of assessments of loblolly pine growth/physiological responses to continuous resource management treatments of weed control (W), weed control plus irrigation (WI), and weed control plus irrigation and fertigation (WIF). Increment cores were analyzed by X-ray densitometry to assess treatment impacts on wood properties. Plotting the wood property data against assigned years allowed results to be compared with available weather data. Mean values for all wood property determinations were similar between the W and WI treatments. Increased ring width for the WIF treatment was consistent with other studies demonstrating substantial increases in loblolly pine productivity by fertilization. Since decreases in ring specific gravity (SG) from fertilization can be offset by increases in ring SG from irrigation, gains in productivity were achieved without reducing wood quality.