Tree and stand growth for clonal E. urophylla × grandis across a range of initial stockings in southern China

A large initial stocking × fertilizer factorial field trial established in 1993 with a Eucalyptus urophylla × grandis hybrid clone in southern Guangxi province, China, included 6 initial stocking treatments ranging from 667 to 2,222 trees ha−1 and 6 fertilizer treatments. Growth data was collected at various intervals up to age 192 months and also data on outer-wood pilodyn penetration (as an indicator of wood density) and acoustic velocity through the outer-wood (as an indicator of modulus of elasticity) at the last assessment. This report examines the results for the main effect of initial stocking treatments and stocking × fertilizer interactions across ages. There were significant differences between initial stockings for both average individual tree volume and standing volume ha−1 at all ages up to 144 months, but just average individual tree volume at 192 months. At ages up to 75 months total standing volume decreased as initial stocking decreased—maximum volume being obtained at 2,222 trees ha−1. From 88 to 110 months the highest standing volume was obtained at 1,667 trees ha−1 and then at ages 144 and 192 months, 833 trees ha−1 provided the highest standing volume. Average individual tree volume at all ages generally increased as initial stocking decreased—the largest trees were obtained at 667 trees ha−1. As age increased the proportional differences between tree volumes at higher and lower stockings increased—at age 27 months average individual tree volume at 667 trees ha−1 was 72% greater than that at 2,222 trees ha−1 and differences increased steadily with age up to 190% at 192 months. There were no significant differences between initial stockings for the properties of the outer-wood assessed by pilodyn penetration and acoustic velocity. Also, no significant interactions were found between initial stocking and fertilizer treatments for any traits at any ages implying that effects of initial stocking and fertilizer are additive for the traits assessed.