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Effect of culture and density on aboveground biomass allocation of 12 years old loblolly pine trees in the upper coastal plain and piedmont of Georgia and Alabama

Informally Refereed

Abstract

We destructively sampled a total of 192 12-year-old loblolly pine trees from four installations established by the Plantation Management Research Cooperative (PMRC) to analyze the effects of planting density and cultural intensity on tree level biomass allocation in the Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain of Georgia and Alabama. Each installation had 12 plots, each plot representing a unique cultural intensity (intensive and operational) and planting density (741, 1482, 2223, 2964, 3705 and 4446 trees ha-1) combination. The plots with the operational culture received chemical site preparation, first growing season competition control and fertilization, and fertilization at ages 7 and 11 while the plots with intensive culture received the operational treatments plus complete and sustained competition control and fertilization about every two years. Previous analysis of plot inventory information determined that at age 12, mean tree DBH increased with intensive culture and decreased with increasing planting density. The objectives of the research reported here were to determine effects of planting density and cultural intensity and their interaction on aboveground biomass accumulation and allocation at the tree level. Biomass in stemwood, stembark, dead branches, live branches, and foliage was examined.

Parent Publication

Citation

Subedi, Santosh; Kane, Dr. Michael; Zhao, Dr. Dehai; Borders, Dr. Bruce; Greene, Dr. Dale. 2012. Effect of culture and density on aboveground biomass allocation of 12 years old loblolly pine trees in the upper coastal plain and piedmont of Georgia and Alabama. In: Butnor, John R., ed. 2012. Proceedings of the 16th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. e-Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-156. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 334-335.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/41520