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Effects of wood ash and nitrogen fertilization on fine root biomass and soil and foliage nutrients in a Norway spruce stand in Finland

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Abstract

We determined the effects of wood ash fertilization, given together with nitrogen (WAN), and nitrogen given together with P, B and Cu (SSF), on soil and foliage nutrients and fine root biomass in a 45-year-old Norway spruce stand in southern Finland. Fine roots were sampled 9 years, and the soil 10 years after ash (3 t/ha) and nitrogen (150 kg/ha) application. Fine root biomass tended to be lower, the necromass higher, and the fine root distribution relatively deeper on the WAN than on the control and SSF plots. The response of fine root biomass to WAN was probably related to changes in soil acidity. pH, base saturation, total and extractable concentrations of Ca, K, Mg and P, and total B, Cd, Mn, Ni and Zn concentrations in the organic layer were significantly higher on the WAN plots than on the SSF and the control plots with no ash and nutrient addition. On the WAN plots, the pH was 1.2 pH-units higher, the exchangeable Ca concentrations fourfold and those of Mg over twofold compared to the control plots. WAN increased the concentrations of K but decreased those of Mn and Ni in the needles compared to the control and SSF treatment. Even though ash and nitrogen fertilisation tended to decrease the fine root biomass, this decrease was not likely to affect tree growth during a 10-year period.

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Acknowledgements

The present study formed a part of the EU-funded research project “Wood for Energy—a contribution to the development of sustainable forest management” (WOOD-EN-MAN, QLK5-CT-2001-00527), and the research project “Nutrient dynamics and treatment of nutrition”, carried out at the Finnish Forest Research Institute. The authors are grateful to forest engineers Pekka Välikangas and Reijo Hautajärvi, and to the staff of the Salla Office of the Rovaniemi Research Unit for performing the time-consuming fine root sorting, and to Sinikka and Teuvo Levula for carrying out the soil and needle sampling.

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  1. Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, 01301, Vantaa, Finland

    Heljä-Sisko Helmisaari, Anna Saarsalmi & Mikko Kukkola

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  1. Heljä-Sisko Helmisaari
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  2. Anna Saarsalmi
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  3. Mikko Kukkola
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Correspondence to Heljä-Sisko Helmisaari.

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Helmisaari, HS., Saarsalmi, A. & Kukkola, M. Effects of wood ash and nitrogen fertilization on fine root biomass and soil and foliage nutrients in a Norway spruce stand in Finland. Plant Soil 314, 121–132 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9711-4

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