Peat lands are a great potential resource for increased forest growth in Sweden, there are approximately 6.5 million hectares of peat lands, whereof around 70% produce less wood than one m3sk/ha and year and are therefore classed as forest waste land. There are over 200 000 hectares of peat land that is already drained and wooded, and that may be suitable for fertilization. Forest production on peat soils usually requires drainage and fertilization. Dewatering requires ditching the area, so that the roots can have access to oxygen. Nitrogen is often abundant in the peat but other nutrients; especially potassium is in short supply. The purpose of this work was to examine the effects of potassium fertilization on the growth of spruces that were planted on drained peat land and how different amount of fertilizers affects the growth. Potassium deficiency is strongly growth inhibiting, since potassium is important for substance transport in the tree. Potassium is also important for the carbohydrate formation, and because increasing the sugar content of the cells constitutes a lower freezing temperature does potassium availability in the soil play a major role in the winter resistance of many species. Potassium is not found in any organic compounds in the tree, but is present in cell and tissue fluids. A fertilization trial was started in 1978 in Siljansfors Experimental Forest. The plots in the experiment were fertilized with different amounts of potassium and one plot was left without fertilization. All plots that were fertilized with potassium grew considerably better than the unfertilized plot. The difference in production between the unfertilized plot and the plot that received the most potassium was 7.2 m3sk/ha and year. The unfertilized plot can still be classified as waste land. The theoretical production capacity was estimated using a Swedish system for site quality estimation of wetlands after ditching (dikningsbonitering). The plot with most potassium produced after fertilizationaproximately in level with theoretical estimations. Key words: Peat land, Fertilization, Ditching, Growth, site quality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-24353 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Miekk-oja, Olli |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för skog och träteknik (STT) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds