{"title":"Effect of Fertilization on the Performance of Adult <i>Pinus pinea</i> Trees.","authors":"Verónica Loewe-Muñoz, Claudia Bonomelli, Claudia Delard, Rodrigo Del Río, Monica Balzarini","doi":"10.3390/biology14020216","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong><i>Pinus pinea</i> L. (stone pine) produces pine nuts of high value. Its cultivation is carried out in forests and plantations, with intensive management techniques being studied to stimulate diameter growth, which is positively related to cone production.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To evaluate the effect of fertilization in a 30-year-old plantation and to understand if adult trees respond to nutritional management.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A trial with completely randomized block design was established with two treatments (fertilization/control) and three repetitions. The plantation, with a density of 204 trees/ha, is located in central Chile, on a sandy-loam soil with neutral pH, medium organic matter content, and a fertility condition that limits tree development. Fertilization considered the repeated application of macro (N, P, K, S, Mg) and micronutrients (B, Fe, and Zn). Periodic measurements of height, stem and crown diameter, and cone production were made up to age 36. Cone production was evaluated using mixed generalized linear models and growth variables using ANOVA (analysis of variance).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant effects of fertilization on DBH annual growth (35% higher than the control, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and in cone production (3 times higher, <i>p</i> < 0.0001) were found.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Fertilization is a useful practice to improve the growth and cone productivity of the species.</p>","PeriodicalId":48624,"journal":{"name":"Biology-Basel","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biology-Basel","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14020216","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Pinus pinea L. (stone pine) produces pine nuts of high value. Its cultivation is carried out in forests and plantations, with intensive management techniques being studied to stimulate diameter growth, which is positively related to cone production.
Aims: To evaluate the effect of fertilization in a 30-year-old plantation and to understand if adult trees respond to nutritional management.
Methods: A trial with completely randomized block design was established with two treatments (fertilization/control) and three repetitions. The plantation, with a density of 204 trees/ha, is located in central Chile, on a sandy-loam soil with neutral pH, medium organic matter content, and a fertility condition that limits tree development. Fertilization considered the repeated application of macro (N, P, K, S, Mg) and micronutrients (B, Fe, and Zn). Periodic measurements of height, stem and crown diameter, and cone production were made up to age 36. Cone production was evaluated using mixed generalized linear models and growth variables using ANOVA (analysis of variance).
Results: Significant effects of fertilization on DBH annual growth (35% higher than the control, p < 0.001) and in cone production (3 times higher, p < 0.0001) were found.
Conclusions: Fertilization is a useful practice to improve the growth and cone productivity of the species.
期刊介绍:
Biology (ISSN 2079-7737) is an international, peer-reviewed, quick-refereeing open access journal of Biological Science published by MDPI online. It publishes reviews, research papers and communications in all areas of biology and at the interface of related disciplines. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. The full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Electronic files regarding the full details of the experimental procedure, if unable to be published in a normal way, can be deposited as supplementary material.