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Old-Field Thinned Loblolly Pine Plantation Fertilization With Diammonium Phosphate Plus Urea and Poultry Litter -- 4 Year Growth and Product Class Distribution Results

Informally Refereed

Abstract

A study area was installed in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina to determine the effects of diammonium phosphate (DAP) plus urea and poultry litter fertilization on growth, yield, diameter distributions, and product class distribu-tions in an old-field (Norfolk soil) thinned loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. Treatments included: (1) control = no fertilization, (2) 125 DAP + 385 pounds urea per acre and (3) 7 tons per acre of broiler litter and were applied in the spring of 1998. The loblolly stand prior to thinning was highly stocked with an average of 750 trees per acre (TPA) and a basal area (BA) of 150 square feet per acre by the end of the tenth growing season. The stand was thinned back to 250 TPA and 50 square feet per acre basal area in January 1998. Mean d.b.h., basal area per acre and total heights were not significantly different between treatments prior to treatment and 4 years after treatment (YAT). Four YAT, the broiler litter treatment had a greater loblolly pine d.b.h. growth increment (2.5 inches) than the DAP+urea (1.9 inches) and the control (1.8 inches). Merchantable volumes for the control, DAP+urea, and broiler litter treatments were not significantly different 4 YAT. Chip and saw volume per acre growth increment (d.b.h. > 8.5 inches) for the broiler litter treatment (1,030 cubic feet per acre) was 42 percent greater than the control and 44 percent greater than the DAP+urea 4 YAT.

Parent Publication

Citation

Dickens, E. David; Richardson, Beth W.; McElvany, Bryan C. 2004. Old-Field Thinned Loblolly Pine Plantation Fertilization With Diammonium Phosphate Plus Urea and Poultry Litter -- 4 Year Growth and Product Class Distribution Results. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–71. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 395-397
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/6725