Influence of mineral fertilization on carbon retention in a pine plantation

Abstract

The work was carried out with measurements taken on the same trees during the first 41 years of age of a Pinus caribaea plantation, established in the Experimental Station of Viñales Forest in Pinar del Río, Cuba, from a random block design where, Seven different treatments were established by the NPK doses and application regimes, plus a control treatment without the application of chemical fertilizer. Measurements were made at different ages to 288 trees with follow-up for 41 years. To estimate the effect of fertilization on carbon retention, height and diameter and the volume was calculated measurements were performed at different ages. The objective of this research was to study carbon sequestration in response to mineral fertilization applied fractionally in the first five years after the establishment of the plantation during the entire time studied. The analysis was used as a result to assert that the doses of 600 g tree^-1, 800 g tree^-1 and 1 000 g tree^-1 favor the carbon retention of the planted species, with the application of a single dose of 300 g tree^-1 lower values are obtained than those obtained by the control treatment.