Abstract
Declining supplies of cabinet-timber from natural stands of tropical rainforest combined with an increasing global demand for all classes of timber has given rise to a significant interest in developing plantations of high-value cabinet timber species in many parts of the tropics. In many cases the plantations are being established on land with low inherent fertility or sites that have been degraded as a result of poor landuse practices. The use of fertilisers has the potential to increase the production on these sites, but our understanding of the rates, timing and types of fertiliser to use with different species on different soil or site types is poor. This paper describes results of experiments at three sites in the wet tropics of north Queensland with similar soil types to sites being used for plantation establishment in South East Asia. The experiments aimed to determine the response to varying rates of P fertiliser in three high-value rainforest cabinet timber species, the Australian natives: black bean (Castanospermum australe Cunn. ex C. Fraser), and kauri pine (Agathis robusta (C. Moore ex F. Muell.) Bailey) and the exotic West Indian cedar (Cedrela odorata L.). Responses to fertilisation varied between sites and between species. There was a more pronounced response to fertilisation on coarse-textured soils derived from granite parent materials than on finer extured soils derived from metamorphic or basalt substrates. We discuss these results in light of their implications for plantation management and for the design and implementation of further nutritional research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anonymous (1983): Rainforest research in north Queensland, Position Paper, Queensland Department of Forestry, Brisbane.
Appanah, S. and G. Weinland (1996): Experience with planting diptero-carps in Peninsula Malaysia. In: Shulte, A. and D. Schone (eds.) Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems, Towards Sustainable Management. World Scientific, Singapore. pp. 411–435.
Evans, J. (1992): Plantation Forestry in the Tropics. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 403 p.
Cannon, M. G., C. D. Smith, and G. G. Murtha (1992): Soils of the Cardwell-Feluga area, North Queensland. Divisional Report No. 115, CSIRO, Division of Soils.
Cromer, R. N., K. C. Tan, E. R. Williams, and W. H. M. Rawlins (1992): Response of Eucalyptus deglupta to phosphate fertiliser. J. Trop. For. Sci. 5: 74–89.
Davidson, J. (1996): Off site and out of sight! How bad cultural practices are offsetting genetic gains in forestry. In: Dieters, M. J., A. C. Matheson, D. G. Nikles, C. E. Harwood, and S. M. Walker (eds.) Tree Improvement for Sustainable Tropical Forestry. Proc. QFRI-IUFRO Conf. Caloundra, Queensland Australia, 27 October-1 November, 1996. pp. 288–294.
Hunter, I. R. and W. Smith (1996): Principles of forest fertilisation — illustrated by the New Zealand experience. Fert. Res. 43: 21–29.
Hunter, I. R., R. Sandberg, and J. Prince (1992): A comparison of the nutrient requirements and growth of young radiata pine and Carribean pine on 5 New Zealand soils. Trop. Sci. 32: 53–62.
Isbell, R. F. (1978): Soils of the tropics and sub-tropics. In: Andrew, C. S. and E. J. Kamprath (eds.) Mineral Nutrition of Legumes in Tropical and Subtropical Soils. CSIRO, Melbourne. pp. 1–20.
Isbell, R. F. and D. G. Edwards (1988): Soils and their management in the Australian wet tropics. In: Loveday, J. (ed.) National Soils Conference 1988: review papers. Australian Society of Soil Science Inc. pp. 152–180.
Lyke, J. (1995): World supply and demand for forest products. J. For. 93: 22–26.
Jordan, C. F. (1994): Ecology of tropical forests. in L. Pancel: Tropical Forestry Handbook. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. p. 165–198.
Keenan, R. J., D. Lamb, and G. Sexton (1995): Experience with mixed species plantations in North Queensland. Comm. For. Rev. 74: 315–321.
Laffan, M. D. (1988): Soils and land use on the Atherton Tableland, North Queensland. Soils and Land Use Series No. 61, CSIRO, Division of Soils.
Murtha, G. G. (1986): Soils of the Tully-Innisfail area, north Queensland. Div. Rep. No. 82 CSIRO Division of Soils, Adelaide.
Nussbaum, R. and A. L. Hoe (1996): Rehabilitation of degraded sites in logged over forest using Dipterocarps. In: Shulte, A. and D. Schone (eds.) Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems, Towards Sustainable Management. World Scientific, Singapore. pp. 446–463.
Poa, D. and G. Mazza (1995): Nutrition trials promise gains in Pacific timber production. ACIAR Forestry Newsletter Feb. 1995 p. 1, 3.
Pegg, R. E. (1991): Eucalyptus species selection and improvement strategies at Dongmen State Forest Farm, Peoples Republic of China. In: Abod, S. A., P. M. Tahir, L. M. Tsai, N, A. A. Shukor, A. S. Sajap, and D. Manikam (eds.) Proc. Reg. Symp. on Recent Developments in Tree Plantations of Humid/Subhumid tropics of Asia. Faculty of Forestry, Selangor, Malaysia. pp. 156–170.
Soil Survey Staff (1975): Soil taxonomy: a basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. US Dept. Agriculture handbook No. 436. Govt. Printer Washington.
Simpson, J. (1995): Site-specific fertilizer requirements of exotic pine plantations in Queensland, Australia. In Schulte, A. and D. Ruhiyat (eds.) Proc. Int. Congress on Soils of Tropical Forest Ecosystems. 3`d Conference on Forest Soils (ISSS —AISS —IBG), vol. 5 Soil Fertility and Fertilization. Mulawarman University Press, Samarinda, Indonesia. pp. 90–106.
Walters, G. A. (1972): Slow-release fertilizer aids early growth of Australian toon and Queensland-maple in Hawaii. Tree Planters Notes: 26: 12–13.
Webb, M. J., P. Reddell, A. Hambleton, and G. M. Mazza (1991): Nutritional Constraints to Growth of Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) in Five North Queensland Soils. Australian Forestry 60: 46–62.
Wilkinson, L. (1990): SYSTAT: The System for Statistics. SYSTAT, Inc. Evanston, IL. 677 p.
Xu, Z. H., J. A. Simpson, D. O. Osborne, and K. A. Bubb (1995): The role of fertilisation in improving the productivity of hoop pine plantations. Paper presented to the Hoop Pine Establishment Workshop, Gympie, 11–14 September 1995. Internal document Queensland DPI-Forestry, Brisbane.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Keenan, R., Hambleton, A., Robson, K., Webb, M. (1998). Growth response of rainforest cabinet timber species to fertiliser application in North Queensland plantations. In: Schulte, A., Ruhiyat, D. (eds) Soils of Tropical Forest Ecosystems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03649-5_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03649-5_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08345-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03649-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive