How Do You Rate This Publication?       

Title:	Response of Soil Bulk Density and Mineral Nitrogen to Harvesting and Cultural Treatments
Author(s):	Zhou, Minyi; Carter, Mason C.; Dean, Thomas J.
Date:	1998
Source:	Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial Southern Silvilcultural Research Conference
Description:	The interactive effects of harvest intensity, site preparation, and fertilization on soil compaction and nitrogen mineralization were examined in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stand growing on a sandy, well-drained soil in eastern Texas. The experimental design was 2 by 2 by 2 factorial, consisting of two harvesting treatments (mechanical whole-tree and hand-fell boles only removed), two site preparation treatments (bedded and unbedded), and two fertilization treatments (fertilized and unfertilized). Soil bulk density was measured before and after harvesting and site preparation. Ion exchange resin bags located at the bottom of soil columns were used to monitor nitrogen mineralization rates in the upper 15 centimeters of soil during the first two growing seasons following harvesting. The mechanical treatment had no effect on soil bulk density at 0 to 5 and 10 to 15 centimeter depths but significantly increased it at 20 to 25 centimeters. Bedding reduced soil bulk density at 10 to 15 and 20 to 25 centimeter depths. The mechanical treatment removed 16 percent more biomass and 127 percent more nitrogen than the hand-fell treatment, but had no affect on nitrogen-mineralization rates. Bedding significantly increased both total mineral nitrogen and nitrate formation during the first growing season but had no effect during the second year. The increase in mineral nitrogen due to the bedded preparation was equal to the increase in mineral nitrogen following application of 250 kilograms per hectare of diammonium phosphate. The results suggest that logging slash and other surface biomass has little influence on nitrogen-mineralization for the first two years after harvesting unless there is considerable soil disturbance and/or incorporation of the surface organic matter.
	View and Print this Publication (98 KB)
Pristine Version:	An uncaptured or "pristine" version of this publication is available. It has not been subjected to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and therefore does not have any errors in the text. However it is a larger file size and some people may experience long download times. The "pristine" version of this publication is available here: View and Print the PRISTINE copy of this Publication (1.6 MB)
Publication Notes:	We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information. This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain. Our on-line publications are scanned and captured using Adobe Acrobat. During the capture process some typographical errors may occur. Please contact the SRS Webmaster, srswebmaster@fs.fed.us if you notice any errors which make this publication unuseable.
	Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility