Wednesday, 9 November 2005
12

Soil C and Nutrient Decreases under Herbicide Treated Pine Stands Persist during Five-Year Resampling.

Daniel Markewitz, The University of Georgia Warnell School of Forest Resources, DW Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30602-2152 and Joshua Price, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.

Fertilizer (F) and herbicide (H) use in Southeastern loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stands substantially increases short-term volume growth. The long-term affect of these chemical treatments on soil properties and processes effecting stand productivity is less certain. Soil carbon and nutrient contents in pine stands in International Paper's Southland Experiment station in Decatur County, Georgia on Typic Kandiudults receiving H and HF applications were re-measured at age eight; five years after initial measurements. At age three, C and N concentration in the 0-10 cm mineral soil, for the reference (R), H, and HF treatments were 2.3, 1.3, 1.6 and 0.09, 0.05, 0.06, respectively. At age eight similar values were 1.7, 1.0, 1.3, and 0.7, 0.4, 0.5, respectively. Treatment differences for C (P = 0.07) and N (P = 0.05) were significant as were differences for age (P=0.05 and P=0.03 for C and N, respectively). There was no interaction between treatment and age. These observed declines in concentrations account for total soil content reductions of approximately 7 Mg ha-1 for C and 300 kg ha-1 for N. Differences in soil cations and charge properties were consistent with declines in C. The five year resampling of the mineral surface soils in these pine stands demonstrated a persistence of soil C and nutrient declines under herbicide and fertilized treated stands.

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