Effects of fertilization and dry-season irrigation on the timber production and carbon storage in subtropical Eucalyptus plantations

Eucalyptus is widely planted in Southern China with its rapid growth and high productivity. Nevertheless, sea-sonal droughts and low soil fertility exist in South China and a deeper understanding of the impacts of coupled fertilization and irrigation management on forest productivity and carbon (C) storage is still required. We investigated the effects of fertilization and dry-season irrigation on timber production and component C stocks in the ecosystem of Eucalyptus plantations. The results showed that fertilization coupled with dry-season irrigation mitigated nutrient limitation and dry-season drought stress, significantly increasing the stand volume of Euca-lyptus plantations, with an increase of 161.3 % compared to the control treatment. Combined management of fertilization and dry-season irrigation significantly increased C stocks in the plantation ecosystem, by 37.3 % compared to the control treatment. Moreover, we found that the increased C storage was mainly from the vegetation layer, while the soil layer carbon storage decreased, thus changing the distribution of C stocks in the ecosystem. These results indicate that fertilized and dry-season irrigated Eucalyptus plantations have great timber production benefits beyond C sequestration, which also provide an important practical exploration of forest management in seasonally dry areas.

Automated summary

Investigating the effects of fertilization and dry-season irrigation on timber production and C stocks in Eucalyptus plantations, it was found that this combined management significantly increased the stand volume and C stocks, with great implications for forest management in seasonally dry areas.