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Nutrient Cycling in Mixed-Forest Plantations

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Mixed Plantations of Eucalyptus and Leguminous Trees

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Abstract

A continuous supply of nutrients is necessary to maintain the tree growth in forest ecosystems. This continuous supply is maintained by nutrient cycling. In managed forests a large amount of nutrients is removed with the harvest. This fact opens the nutrient cycle, being necessary, in many cases, fertilizer application to ensure adequate nutrient supply for the trees. Our goal with this chapter is to compare the nutrient cycling of mixed forest (mainly Acacia with Eucalyptus) with monospecific plantation and natural vegetation (Atlantic Forest and Savannah). The introduction of nitrogen-fixing trees (NFTs) in monospecific eucalypt plantation can improve the capacity of the trees in obtain nutrients, mainly due to the atmospheric N2 fixation and by the wider soil exploration. Beyond that, the introduction of NFTs also accelerates the nutrient cycling, especially to P. These two facts reduce the dependence of mixed plantation on fertilizer application. However, the concentration of some nutrients in the acacia biomass is higher than in eucalypt biomass. Thus, if mixed plantations reach the same productivity of monospecific eucalypt plantation, an increase in the nutrient harvest output can occur.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture and Forest Engineering College (FAEF), Garça, SP, Brazil

    José Henrique Tertulino Rocha

  2. Department of Forest Sciences, University of São Paulo, “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves

  3. Institute of Forest Science and Research (IPEF), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Alexandre de Vicente Ferraz

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  1. José Henrique Tertulino Rocha
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  2. José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves
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  3. Alexandre de Vicente Ferraz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, University of São Paulo “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Elke Jurandy Bran Nogueira Cardoso

  2. Department of Forest Science, University of São Paulo “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves

  3. EMBRAPA Soils, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Fabiano de Carvalho Balieiro

  4. EMBRAPA Agrobiology, (Retired Researcher), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Avílio Antônio Franco

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Rocha, J.H.T., Gonçalves, J.L.d.M., Ferraz, A.d.V. (2020). Nutrient Cycling in Mixed-Forest Plantations. In: Bran Nogueira Cardoso, E., Gonçalves, J., Balieiro, F., Franco, A. (eds) Mixed Plantations of Eucalyptus and Leguminous Trees. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32365-3_3

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