Effects of slash and litter management practices on soil fertility and eucalypt growth were studied over a full rotation. Soil properties were compared to a depth of 1 m before harvesting the previous stand and at 1, 3 and 8 years after harvest management treatments. Stand overbark volume ranged from 84 m³ ha^-1 to 161 m³ ha^-1 seven years after planting depending on slash and litter management treatments. Burning increased stand growth in the first year after planting, but reduced the mean annual increment by 13% at seven years of age compared to harvesting only stemwood. There was a significant...

Impacts of slash management, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilising, weed management and legume cover-cropping on productivity of Eucalyptus grandis and E. tereticornis plantations were evaluated. Two sites typical for each species were selected and experiments planted in 1998. Trees were harvested at age 6.5 years in 2005. Slash management had no significant impact on productivity. Overall growth rates across treatments in slash management plots were 31.7-49.1 m³ ha^-1 yr^-1 in E. grandis and 14.8-16.4 m³ ha^-1 yr^-1 in E. tereticornis plantations. These productivity rates were higher than achieved in the previous rotation (41-143% for E. tereticornis and 57-252% for...

Effects of site management practices on tree growth, aboveground production and nutrient accumulation of a second rotation of Eucalyptus urophylla plantation on degraded soils in southern China were evaluated. In terms of tree growth, aboveground biomass production and nutrient accumulation, treatments where branch and leaf slash was retained and Acacia holosericea was intercropped between tree rows were better than the treatment where only branch and leaf slash was retained. The treatment where branch and leaf slash was doubled was better than the treatment where branch and leaf slash was cleared, but not significantly (p<0.05) better than the treatment where all...

Silvicultural operations such as soil preparation, logging residue management and application of fertilisers can influence soil fertility, hence nutrient uptake and tree growth. This paper reports effects of site management practices of minimum and intensive cultivation of the soil on the growth of Eucalyptus grandis and on soil fertility. The experimental site is characterised by seasonal soil water deficits and very low soil fertility. Effects of complete harvest residue removal, residue retention and residue burning were assessed. Highest productivities were obtained where residues were retained or burned and the lowest where all residues (slash, litter and bark) were removed. Results...

Effects of site and slash management treatments on soil chemical properties, soil water contents, foliar nutrient levels and stand productivity were studied for a full rotation in a stand of Eucalyptus grandis in South Africa. Site management treatments included slash removal, slash retention, slash burning and fertilisation at establishment. Soil water content fluctuated seasonally but was similar across all treatments at a given time. For each treatment, soil pH, exchangeable cations and P all increased initially before returning to levels similar to those at the start of the rotation. Slash burning had the most pronounced, but temporary, influence on soil...

Harvest residue management impacts on soil nutrients and plantation productivity were evaluated at two contrasting second rotation Eucalyptus globulus plantations in south-western Australia. Soil properties and plantation productivity were monitored for a full rotation length of 10 years. Site management options applied between the crop rotations included burning, removal, and retention of single and double loads of residues, with retention of up to 100 Mg DW ha^-1 (in the double residues at the red earth site) before planting the new crop. By 10 years, harvest residue management had no significant impact on soil stores of carbon or total N and...

This paper reports the effect of slash management on productivity of a second rotation Acacia mangium plantation in Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia after five years. The site was affected by a root rot disease and an opportunistic investigation was carried out to understand the impact of this disease on stand growth and the potential effects of treatments on fungus infection. There was no significant effect of treatments on stand volume but plots with higher levels of slash retention had a higher mean stem diameter at breast height and lower tree survival. Retention of slash and litter had no significant effect...

This paper presents the results of inter-rotation management on the productivity of a second rotation plantation of Acacia mangium in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Slash retention had a positive response on growth. Slash retention also increased soil organic C and N three years after planting. Extractable P tended to decrease over time, but this was not significant. Five years after planting soil pH did not change. High slash addition increased exchangeable Ca and Mg in surface soil. Peak nutrient demand occurred within the first 1-2 years after planting, suggesting the importance of early nutrient inputs. Application of N, K and Ca...

This paper describes the effects of slash management on stand productivity and soil properties up to age four years in Acacia auriculiformis. Results of additional studies on vegetation and nutrient management on tree growth are also reported. Retention of slash improved volume growth by 7-10% depending on the amount of slash retained. Slash retention and stand growth increased nitrogen and organic carbon in the surface soil. However, Bray-1 extractable phosphorus declined progressively up to at age three years regardless of the nature of slash management. There were no significant changes in pH. Exchangeable potassium, calcium and magnesium declined after three...

A 29.4-year-old Pinus elliottii stand on a low-fertility soil was harvested and slash management, weed control and legume treatments applied to examine impacts of inter-rotation management on tree growth and soil properties of the second rotation hybrid pines (P. elliottii var. elliottii × P. caribaea var. hondurensis). Logs harvested from the first rotation stand contained 189.1 kg ha^-1 N, 10.8 kg ha^-1 P, 63.2 kg ha^-1 K, 170.3 kg ha^-1 Ca and 64.6 kg ha^-1 Mg. Slash (harvesting residues and litter) contained 64.1 kg ha^-1 N, 5.0 kg ha^-1 P, 21.1 kg ha^-1 K, 76.0 kg ha^-1 Ca and 21.5...

The study aimed to measure the influence of various site management treatments on productivity of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.) plantations over a rotation. After clearcutting a first-rotation stand, a second-rotation plantation of the same species was established using five site preparation treatments. Nine years after planting there were no significant differences in tree growth due to treatments. However, trees on the plots retaining a high amount of slash grew the best and those in the slash-burnt plots had the poorest growth. Soil bulk density in the 0-10 cm layer across all the plots decreased slightly initially and then...

Sustainable production from plantation forests depends on conserving organic matter and availability of soil nutrients, especially in short rotation stands on low fertility sites. The introduction of nitrogen-fixing trees may be an option to manage nitrogen and organic matter in those plantations where nitrogen may limit growth. This paper explores the effect of Eucalyptus grandis and Acacia mangium mixtures on tree growth, biomass allocation, net primary production, and estimation of the atmospheric nitrogen fixation. The acacia understorey in mixed-species stands did not influence biomass production and partitioning in the eucalypt overstorey, resulting in 10% higher total biomass accumulation in the...