XAVIER, R.    PIRES, A. L.. Effect of controlling competing vegetation and fertilization on maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) growth and nutrient concentration. []. , 33, 1, pp.41-49. ISSN 0871-018X.

To study the interest of controlling the understory vegetation and the addition of N, P and K on the growth and nutrient concen­tration in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.), a field trial was established in a 6-year old pine forest. Five treatments were tested: control (T); cutting and removal of compet­ing vegetation (CR); cutting, removal of competing vegetation and fertilization (CRF); cutting and chipping of competing vegetation (CD); cutting, chipping of com­peting vegetation and fertilization (CDF). Between 2002 and 2007, growth in the CDF treatment was higher (p <0.05) than in the other treatments. The lowest growth oc­curred in control and/or in the CR treatment. In general, there were no differences between CD and CRF treatments. Therefore, these re­sults point out that removal of competing vegetation should be considered only if fertil­izers are added (CRF treatment) in order to avoid negative effects on pine growth. Ap­plying fertilizers increased N, P and K con­centrations only in 2002 and 2003, although the increase was not significant.

: nitrogen; phosphorus; pine forest; potassium.

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