Effects of thinning and pruning on stem and crown characteristics of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don)

doi:10.3832/ifor2037-009

Effects of thinning and pruning on stem and crown characteristics of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don)

M Paulina Fernández^(1-2) , José Basauri⁽³⁾, Carolina Madariaga⁽³⁾, María Menéndez-Miguélez⁽¹⁾, Ricardo Olea⁽⁴⁾, Ane Zubizarreta-Gerendiain^(5-6)

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 383-390 (2017)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2037-009
Published: Mar 16, 2017 - Copyright © 2017 SISEF

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Simultaneous applications of thinning and pruning are common silvicultural practices in radiata pine (Pinus radiata) forest plantations. Their separate effects on tree growth and wood quality have been well studied, but their combined effect is not clear yet. The aim of this study is to identify how thinning and pruning together affect the stem structure and properties of the pruned but also the unpruned section of the trees (the portions formed immediately after the application of these management efforts). The effects of pruning and thinning on the number of growth units per year, internode length, number of branches, and branch diameters was analyzed in managed and unmanaged stands of radiata pine grown in Chile. When used jointly, these practices generated larger individual tree volumes (135% more) and clear wood in the pruned logs; however, they also reduced the sawn wood quality of the unpruned stem section for some years after the silvicultural interventions. The managed trees showed more growth units per annual shoot and shorter internodes, thus generating more knotty wood. Moreover, managed trees showed more taper. As trees of the managed stand restore the foliar biomass lost due to pruning, managed and unmanaged stands approach the same level of canopy closure, and differences minimize.

Keywords

Annual Shoot, Silviculture Management, Branching, Knots, Tree Volume, Taper, Wood Quality

Authors’ address

(1)

Department of Ecosystems and Environment, Faculty de Agronomy and Forest Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago (Chile)

(2)

UC Timber Innovation Center, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago (Chile)

(3)

Undergraduate School of Forest Engineering, Faculty de Agronomy and Forest Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago (Chile)

(4)

Department of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago (Chile)

(5)

University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80101 Joensuu (Finland)

(6)

Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), 48008, Bilbao (Spain)

Corresponding author

M Paulina Fernández
pfernan@uc.cl

Citation

Fernández MP, Basauri J, Madariaga C, Menéndez-Miguélez M, Olea R, Zubizarreta-Gerendiain A (2017). Effects of thinning and pruning on stem and crown characteristics of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don). iForest 10: 383-390. - doi: 10.3832/ifor2037-009

Academic Editor

Giacomo Goli

Paper history

Received: Mar 02, 2016
Accepted: Oct 20, 2016

First online: Mar 16, 2017
Publication Date: Apr 30, 2017
Publication Time: 4.90 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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