IMPACTS OF FERTILIZATION MANAGEMENT ON STAND DEVELOPMENT: A TREE-RING ANALYSIS OF PINUS CARIBAEA VAR. HONDURENSIS AND PINUS TAEDA
A study was conducted to assess the impact of fertilization regimes on the growth and wood density of 13-year-old stands of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis and Pinus taeda, located in an experimental area in Southeast Brazil. Growth parameters, such as total height, diameter at breast height (DBH), wood volume, and mean annual increment (MAI), were estimated using forest inventory data collected over an 8-year period. Forty-eight trees were selected, with 12 trees assigned to each of the four treatments: control and fertilized for each species. Four cores were obtained from each tree to measure wood density using X-ray densitometry, and tree-ring width series were crossdated and synchronized. The fertilization regime significantly affected the growth of P. caribaea var. hondurensis, which exhibited increased productivity, while P. taeda showed no significant growth responses. Fertilization resulted in a slight increase in wood density for P. taeda, while no changes were observed in P. caribaea var. hondurensis. Precipitation was identified as a key factor influencing wood density, with a negative correlation in P. taeda and a positive correlation with tree-ring width for both species. These findings underscore the importance of targeted fertilization strategies in forest management, particularly under varying environmental conditions.ABSTRACT
Location (A) and climatological normal (1990-2020- NASA’S power climate data) of the region (B).
Growth curves of P. caribaea var. hondurensis and P. taeda under different treatments during the 2010 to 2018 period: cumulative height (A); cumulative DBH (B); cumulative wood volume (C); and stem diameter frequency (D). PCH- Pinus caribaea var hondurensis; PTA- Pinus taeda; F- fertilized treatment; C- control treatment.
Annual mean wood volume: Pinus caribaea var hondurensis (A); and Pinus taeda (B); F-fertilized treatment; C- control treatment. Wood volume increment pairwise comparison (Tukey test) at different years (bottom). Different letters represent significant differences at p < 0.05 probability level.
Intra-ring wood density assessed by X-ray densitometry in Pinus spp. trees (A); annual tree-ring width (B) and wood density (C) profile of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (PCH) and P. taeda (PTA) trees. F- fertilized treatment; C- control treatment.
Relationship between accumulated biomass estimations of Pinus spp. trees, derived from trunk diameter (DBH) using inventory data (Biomass 1) and tree-ring width data (Biomass 2) (A); Relationship between wood density and tree-ring width over the 13-year study period (B); the inter-annual variability of carbon mass increment (C). PCH = Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis; PTA = Pinus taeda; F- fertilized treatment; C- control treatment.
Correlation coefficients between tree-ring chronologies and precipitation for the current (pp) and previous (pp-1) years (2007–2020) for Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (A) and Pinus taeda (B). Panel C shows correlation coefficients between chronology series and accumulated monthly precipitation. TRW = tree-ring width; WD = wood density; PCH = Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis; PTA = Pinus taeda; F = fertilized treatment; C = control treatment.
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