scholarly journals Effect of planting density on the development of tree and plantation volume of Populus x euramericana (Dode) Guinier cl. I-214

2005 ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milivoj Vuckovic ◽  
Sinisa Andrasev ◽  
Savo Roncevic ◽  
Martin Bobinac

The effect of plantation density on the stem volume development phases of mean trees of Populus x euramericana (Dode) Guinier, cl. I-214 were studied in the test plantation aged 25 years with two different planting densities 4.25x4.25 m (treatment A) and 6.00x6.00 m (treatment B). The modeling of stem volume growth of mean trees enabled the identification of development phases based on biological laws. Different growth dynamics of mean trees of the clone I-214, depending on plantation density, had a clear effect on the beginning and the end of individual phases, i.e. subphases of development, as well as on the diameters, heights and volumes of mean trees at the end of each phase of volume development.

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 2587-2599 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Negrave ◽  
C. E. Prescott ◽  
J. E. Barker

A factorial trial was established to examine the effects of planting density and fertilization on the growth of western redcedar ( Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) and western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) on nutrient-poor (CH) sites and nutrient-medium (HA) sites. Two levels of NPK fertilization were crossed with three levels of planting density (500, 1500, and 2500 stems/ha). Fifteen years after establishment and 10 years after the last fertilizer application, height, individual stem volume increment, stand volume, 5 year periodic annual increment (PAI), and 5 year periodic height increment were all increased by fertilization. Fertilization of CH sites increased annual stand volume increment by 753%–2552% and 122%–209% for hemlock and cedar, respectively; fertilization of HA sites increased PAI by 94%–264%. Volume growth response to fertilization was greater on HA than on CH sites. Increasing stand density reduced height growth on CH sites but not on HA sites. These results suggest that competition for nutrients can be a significant growth-limiting factor even before canopy closure occurs and that treatment of ericaceous sites may not be justified by productivity increases.


1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.Y. Xie ◽  
C.C. Ying ◽  
W.D. Johnstone

Spacing and provenance effects on the performance of shore pine (Pinuscontorta var. contorta) at a frost-prone site in coastal British Columbia were investigated with respect to mortality, growth, stem defects, and disease and insect damages in a trial with six seed sources that were assigned to seven spacing regimes from 749 to 2990 stems per hectare. Twenty-year test results indicate that mortality was low (2.3% on average) and not significantly influenced by spacing. However, spacing effects on the other traits were significant. Increasing planting density reduced the proportion of stem defected and disease- and insect-damaged trees, slowed diameter and stem volume growth of individuals, and stimulated height growth. Height growth responded to planting density earlier than diameter growth, but diameter growth became more affected as trees grew. The total volume per hectare increases with planting density, but the rate of increase declined as the test proceeded. Response to planting density was homogeneous among provenances with respect to all the traits investigated. However, large and significant regional and provenance differences in mortality, growth, and disease and insect susceptibility were detected. Northern and outer coast provenances demonstrated higher mortality, slower growth, and larger proportions of disease- and insect-damaged trees. Clearly, determining appropriate spacing levels and selecting suitable seed sources are both important for the success of reforestation with shore pine at difficult sites.


2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Dean ◽  
R. W. Stonecypher

Abstract Details are given of three first-generation progeny tests (CB1, CB2 and CB3) of coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [MIRB.] FRANCO var. menziesii) planted in the Coos Bay region of south-central coastal Oregon in 1973. The three tests included 15 polymix families based on a 10-pollen mix, and 27 families openpollinated on the ortet. The present study gives heritabilities and additive genetic correlations for growth measured between two and 17 years after planting. Correlated responses are estimated for volume at 17 years from early selection for height and diameter. Between four and 17 years after planting the individual heritability (h2) of height of coastal Douglas-fir across the Coos Bay tests was quite stable between h2 = 0.18 and 0.22. The heritability of stem diameter age-forage was consistently much lower than for height. In the critical age range for early selection between five and 10 years the individual heritability of diameter ranged from h2 = 0.07 to 0.10. The additive genetic correlations involving volume-17 and height or diameter increased to high values of rA = 0.80 to 0.84 between eight to 10 years after planting. Before seven years the absolute values of juvenilemature correlations were much lower. The higher heritability of height made this trait the best criterion for early indirect selection to improve mature stem volume growth. Across these Coos Bay tests, early selection on stem height measured at 5-8 years after planting was estimated to produce almost 40% more gain per year in volume-17 compared with direct selection at 17 years on volume-17 itself. The recommendation for maximizing gain per year in mature volume of coastal Douglas-fir at Coos Bay is to select on height at 7-8 years when the mean height of trees in tests should be around 4.5 to 5.5 meters.


1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 193-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Pienaar ◽  
B. D. Shiver

Abstract The study reported here provides information on the yield potential of improved loblolly pine seedlings planted on marginal agricultural cropland in the Georgia Piedmont with control of herbaceous competition. Early growth rates greatly exceed those in existing plantations established on cutover and mechanically site-prepared land in this region without additional control of competing vegetation. After 8 growing seasons, average tree height, average dbh, basal area per acre, and stem volume per acre were all influenced by planting density, but the mean annual increment of merchantable volume (trees 4.0 in. dbh and bigger to a 2.0 in. top diameter) at age 8 yr, for planting densities of 400 to 1000 trees/ac, was 230 ft³, or approximately 3 cords/ac/yr. This is more than twice the average growth rate in this region of cutover and mechanically site-prepared loblolly plantations without additional vegetation control. These results should be of particular interest to prospective participants in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). South. J. Appl. For. 17(4):193-196.


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1937-1948 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ceulemans ◽  
G. Scarascia-Mugnozza ◽  
B. M. Wiard ◽  
J. H. Braatne ◽  
T. M. Hinckley ◽  
...  

Height and diameter growth, stem volume production, leaf phenology and leaf number, and number of branches of Populustrichocarpa Torr. & Gray, Populusdeltoides Bartr., and their F1 hybrids (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides) were studied for 4 years in a research plantation in western Washington, United States. Twelve clones (three of each species and six of the hybrids) grew under a short-rotation silviculture regime in monoclonal plots at spacings of 1 × 1 m (10 000 stems/ha). Clones represented a north-south gradient within the geographic distribution of both the two North American poplar species and the parentage of the hybrid material. The results support earlier work by contributing additional evidence for the superiority of the hybrids. However, the relative hybrid superiority in these monoclonal plots was less pronounced than that found earlier in field trials with single-tree plots because of heightened intraclonal competition. After 4 years, mean estimated stem volume of the hybrids was 1.5 times that of P. trichocarpa and 2.3 times that of P. deltoides. Total tree height of the hybrids was 1.1 times that off. trichocarpa and 1.3 times that off. deltoides. Clonal variation was the dominant theme in height and diameter growth, stem volume productivity, time of bud break and bud set, tree mortality, and number of branches. Populustrichocarpa had the highest number of sylleptic branches, P. deltoides had the lowest, and hybrids were intermediate. Significant clone by replicate interactions were observed in height, diameter, and volume growth. Phenological traits, such as the dates of bud break and bud set, and the length of growing period only partly explained the observed differences in growth between the P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides hybrids and the parental species.


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wang ◽  
B.J. van der Kamp

Potted ramets of 14 western black cottonwood (Populustrichocarpa Torr. & Gray) clones from southern British Columbia were inoculated with Melampsoraoccidentalis H. Jacks to produce a range of disease severities, and their size and dry weight were determined after 1 or 2 years. Response to inoculation varied significantly between clones. Clones from drier interior locations were less resistant than those from coastal or moister interior locations. Local- (within leaf) or systemic-induced resistance was not detected. Yield (total dry weight) decreased linearly with disease severity. Percent reduction in yield was greater than the cumulative percent leaf area infected for all clones. Yield losses were substantial: dry weights of ramets with disease severity levels similar to those experienced by natural cottonwood populations were about 75% of controls; heavily infected ramets were <50% of controls. Stem:root ratios increased rapidly with increasing disease severity in all clones, and at significantly different rates. Severe infection resulted in substantial mortality in the following winter and reduced initial stem volume growth in the following growing season. Tolerance, defined as the relationship between disease severity and yield, varied significantly between clones. The most significant discovery of this study was that tolerance and resistance were correlated, greater tolerance being associated with reduced resistance. The concepts of resistance, tolerance, and disease hazard, as quantified in this study, can be used to predict yield and to select the most appropriate clones for different disease hazard conditions.


1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 514-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Långström ◽  
O. Tenow ◽  
A. Ericsson ◽  
C. Hellqvist ◽  
S. Larsson

In a field experiment in central Sweden, current shoots representing one-fifth of the needle biomass were removed from Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) by hand pruning young and old trees and by inducing Tomicuspiniperda (L.) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) attacks on caged young trees. Branches in the uppermost whorls were pruned in later summer, early summer, or both. Starch and nitrogen concentrations in needles were monitored for two growing seasons. After four seasons the trees were felled and effects on growth were recorded. Starch and nitrogen concentrations in needles of pruned branches decreased and increased, respectively, compared with the controls. In old trees, but not in young ones, the raised nitrogen level persisted for 3 years after pruning. Starch and nitrogen concentrations in unpruned branches of pruned whorls did not change compared with the control until these branches became pruned, i.e., each branch acted as a semiautonomous integrated physiological unit. At felling, pruned trees were short of a portion of needle biomass equal to that removed, while at the same time, the needle biomass grown out above the pruned whorls was larger than the corresponding part of the controls. Stem volume losses in old hand-pruned trees were larger than and lasted longer than in young ones and were not yet completed four growing seasons after treatment. In a stepwise linear regression analysis, final needle biomass explained most of the total variation in volume growth of young hand-pruned trees, whereas for old trees, intertree competition was more important. Responses of beetle-pruned trees were similar to those of young hand-pruned trees. Differences in response to pruning and defoliation and in recovery between young and old trees are discussed in terms of source and sink theory and of compensatory mechanisms and carbohydrate limitation, respectively.


1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.M.G. Borralho ◽  
P.P. Cotterill ◽  
P.J. Kanowski

Breeding objectives were defined for pulp production of Eucalyptusglobulus Labill, using a simple profit equation relating the monetary cost savings per tonne of pulp produced with stem volume, wood density, and pulp yield. The economic importance of each trait was calculated for five different pulp and forestry industry scenarios with widely different cost structures. Selection indices integrating various combinations of volume growth, wood density, and pulp yield were compared for their ability to meet the different breeding objectives. There was surprising consistency in results across the range of breeding objectives and cost structures studied. It was clear that selection indices integrating volume, wood density, and pulp yield gave the most accurate selection and maximized genetic gain in breeding objectives. The cost savings from indices that included only volume were always much less than one-half, and sometimes as low as one-quarter, as much as those from indices integrating volume and wood traits. In the case study considered, E. globulus in Portugal, these cost savings had substantial implications for company profitability.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 2600-2611 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Zubizarreta Gerendiain ◽  
H. Peltola ◽  
P. Pulkkinen ◽  
R. Jaatinen ◽  
A. Pappinen ◽  
...  

Volume growth has typically been used as a selection trait of prime importance in forest tree breeding. Less attention has been given to the genetic or phenotypic relationships between the growth or yield and wood density traits. In the above context, we aimed to investigate the phenotypic relationships among different growth, yield, and wood density traits of 20 Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.) clones grown in southeastern Finland, in order to identify whether a high growth rate was associated with low wood density in any of the clones. Compared with growth or yield traits, the wood density traits showed lower phenotypic variations. The phenotypic correlations between growth, yield, and wood density traits were, on average, from moderate to high, suggesting that selection for one trait would simultaneously affect the other traits. Compared with volume production, selection based on stem mass could be more profitable if a clonal stand is managed for pulpwood rather than mechanical wood processing and vice versa; whereas selection for overall wood density alone would reduce both the stem volume and stem mass. However, by compromising the gain or loss in wood density and stem volume, clones with high stem volume and a relatively high wood density could be found.


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
E C Cole ◽  
M Newton ◽  
A Youngblood

The current spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) epidemic in interior Alaska is leaving large expanses of dead spruce with little spruce regeneration. Many of these areas are habitat for moose (Alces alces). To establish spruce regeneration and improve browse production for moose, paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh), willow (Salix spp.), and three stocktypes (plug+1 bareroot, and 1+0 plugs from two nurseries) of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) were planted in freshly cutover areas on Fort Richardson, near Anchorage. Four vegetation-management treatments were compared: broadcast site preparation with herbicides, banded site preparation with herbicides, mechanical scarification, and untreated control. Spruce seedlings had the greatest growth in the broadcast site preparation treatment (p < 0.01). Stocktype was the most important factor in spruce growth, with bareroot transplant seedlings being the tallest and largest 5 years after planting (p < 0.001). In the first 3 years, relative stem volume growth was greater for plug seedlings than for bareroot seedlings (p < 0.001). By year 4, relative growth rates were similar among all stocktypes. Treatment effects for paper birch and willow were confounded by moose browsing. Results indicate spruce can be regenerated and moose browse enhanced simultaneously in forests in interior Alaska.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document