Influence of spatial arrangements on silvicultural characteristics of three Eucalyptus clones at integrated crop-livestock-forest system

Abstract

This research evaluated the influence of different spatial arrangements on the growth of three Eucalyptus clones as well as the characteristics that influence the quality of the timber. The experiment was carried out at Embrapa-Beef Cattle station, Campo Grande city, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The design was in randomized blocks in a factorial scheme (3 × 3) with plots subdivided by time and four repetitions. Three clones of Eucalyptus were used (Urocam VM1, Grancam 1277 and Urograndis I144), and there were three spatial arrangements (single, double and triple row). At 20 and 32 months after planting, the variables, total plant height, diameter at breast height (DBH), volume of timber per tree, volume of timber per hectare, straightness and forking, and cylindricity were evaluated. The spatial arrangements influenced the behavior of the genetic material, and the greatest tree heights were observed in the triple row arrangements. The single row arrangement provided greater gains in DBH. The Grancam clone stood out from the others in the characteristics of straightness and forking, independent of the spatial arrangement and time of evaluation. It was concluded that the volume of timber per tree and the volume of timber per hectare were associated with the planting density, low density results in lower volume.

Modeling the individual height and volume of two integrated crop-livestock-forest systems of <i>Eucalyptus</i> spp. in the Brazilian Savannah

“…Table 7 shows that the production of wood per hectare in the ICLF 1 treatment was higher than the productivity presented in the ICLF 2 , which confirms the view that higher densities of trees give larger volumes of wood per area (Muller, Couto, Leite, & Brito, 2005;Ferreira et al, 2016).…”

“…The tolerance to competition and the efficiency in the use of environmental resources are factors that influence the growth and development of trees (Binkley, 2004;Boyden, Binkley, & Stape, 2008). In a study of the influence of different spatial arrangements on the growth of different eucalyptus clones, Ferreira et al (2016) concluded that space influences the behavior of eucalyptus clones and that there are differences in the growth of different genetic materials when they are implanted in the same space. However, the same genetic material, as well as the spacing, was used for both treatments in this study, which provided low stand plants; those facts thus justify the lack of significant differences in the evaluated characteristics in the present study.…”

“…However, according to Ferreira et al (2016), the differences in the wood volume per hectare between lessdense and more-dense populations tend to decrease with the increase in the average age of the population because of increased competition for water, lighting, nutrients and space among individuals in the more-dense population, which thus reduces their growth rate. It is important to note that in large spacings, such as those of the present study, it is necessary to use a longer period of time so that the productivities of different spatial arrangements can become similar and the necessary resources for the growth of plants will be available for a long time.…”