Summary
The benefit of fertilizer application during establishment of a tree plantation depends on effective nutrient uptake and the utilization of the nutrients in growth. Five urea treatments (0, 50, 75, 150, and 450 kg N/ha) were applied in a completely randomized plot design to a field planted with American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) seedlings to evaluate growth responses and nitrogen use efficiency during the first season of plantation establishment. The site was in the Oak Ridge Reservation in eastern Tennessee on a highly weathered soil. Harvests were conducted on 3 occasions during a 22 week experimental period, and dry weights of stems, leaves, and large and small roots were measured. Chemical analyses were conducted on plant tissues from the 0, 75, and 450 kg N/ha treatments. Plant dry weight increased with urea application and growth analysis showed that this was mainly associated with increase in leaf area and to a minor extent with increase in net assimilation rate. Root weight increased significantly with urea application. The specific absorption rate of roots for several nutrients was greater at higher urea levels for the first 2 harvest periods, but this pattern reversed during the 3rd growth period. Surprisingly, manganese uptake and the specific absorption rate for manganese were enhanced with higher urea application. The acidifying effect of urea nitrification is a likely explanation for the increased Mn availability, and nitrate leaching and/or nitrogen immobilization contributed to low uptake of urea-N by the seedlings. The proportion of the applied nitrogen incorporated into the seedlings was 1.5 and 0.6% for the 75 and 450 kg N/ha urea treatments, respectively. Broadcast fertilizer application is not an effective way of supplying nutrients to seedlings during plantation establishment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams F (1984) Crop response to lime in the southern United States. In: Adams F (ed) Soil acidity and liming, 2nd edn. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, pp 211–266
Atkinson D, Wilson SA (1980) The growth and distribution of fruit tree roots: some consequences for nutrient uptake. In: Atkinson D, Jackson JE, Sharpies RO, Waller WM (eds) Mineral nutrition of fruit trees. Butterworths, London, pp 137–150
Baker JB, Blackmon BG (1977) Biomass and nutrient accumulation in a cottonwood plantation: the first growing season. Soil Sci Soc Am J 41: 632–635
Craig JR, Wollum AG (1982) Ammonia volatilization and soil nitrogen changes after urea and ammonium nitrate fertilization of Pinus taeda L. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46: 409–414
Cunningham M, Adams MB, Luxmoore RJ, Post MA, DeAngelis DL (1989) Quick estimate of root lengths using a video image analyzer. Can J For Res 19: 335–340
Gould WD, Hagedorn C, McCready RGL (1986) Urea transformations and fertilizer efficiency in soil. Adv Agron 40: 209–238
Hunt R (1978) Plant growth analysis. Edward Arnold, London
Ingestadt T (1981) Nutrition and growth of birch and grey alder seedlings in low conductivity solutions and at varied relative rates of nutrient addition. Physiol Plant 52: 454–466
Labanauskas CK (1966) Manganese. In: Chapman HD (ed) Diagnostic criteria for plants and soils. University of California, Riverside, Calif., pp 264–285
Linder S (1985) Potential and actual production in Australian forest stands. In: Landsberg JJ, Parsons W (eds) Research for forest management. CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia, pp 11–35
Lindsay WL (1979) Chemical equilibria in soils. Wiley, New York
Luxmoore RJ, Millington RJ (1971) Growth of perennial ryegrass (Lolium pernne L.) in relation to water, nitrogen, and light intensity. II. Effects on dry weight production, transpiration, and nitrogen uptake. Plant Soil 34: 561–574
Moorby J, Besford RT (1983) Mineral nutrition and growth. In: Läuchi A, Bieleski RL (eds) Encyclopedia of plant physiology, NS. Inorganic plant nutrition, vol 15B. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 481–527
Ranney JL, Wright LL, Layton PA (1987) Hardwood energy crops: the technology of intensive culture. J For 85: 17–28
Reuss JO, Johnson DW (1986) Acidification of forest soils and waters. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Timmer VR, Stone EL (1978) Comparative foliar analysis of young balsam fir fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and lime. Soil Sci Soc Am J 42: 125–130
Tschaplinski TJ, Johnson DW, Norby RJ, Todd DE (1991) Biomass and soil nitrogen relationships of a 1-year-old sycamore plantation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 55: 841–847
Van Rees KCJ, Comerford NB (1990) The role of woody roots of slash pine seedlings in water and potassium absorption. Can J For Res 20: 1183–1191
Walters MB, Reich PB (1989) Responses of Ulmus americana seedlings to varying nitrogen and water status. I. Photosynthesis and growth. Tree Physiol 5: 159–172
Wittwer RF, Immel MJ, Ellingsworth FR (1980) Nutrient uptake in fertilized plantations of American sycamore. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44: 606–610
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Luxmoore, R.J., Cunningham, M., Mann, L.K. et al. Urea fertilization effects on nutrient uptake and growth of Platanus occidentalis during plantation establishment. Trees 7, 250–257 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202082
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202082