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The effect of crown position and date of sampling on biomass, nutrient concentrations and contents of needles and shoots in European larch

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Abstract

The nutrient concentrations and contents of needles and shoots of 22-year-old European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) were evaluated with respect to crown position, age of tissues and sampling date during a complete growing season. Concentrations of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Zn in the needles and of N, P and K in the shoots differed significantly among the dates of sampling. The concentrations of N and Mn in the needles and all nutrients in the shoots (except Mg) also differed significantly with crown position. Maximum needle biomass was observed in the middle crown position (55% of the total) and maximum shoot biomass, in the lower crown position (52% of the total). Maximum needle and shoot nutrient contents were observed in the middle position of the living crown for long shoot, short shoot-1, short shoot-2, short shoot-3 and, short shoot-4 age classes while highest contents for short shoot-5 and short shoot-6 age classes were observed in the lower crown position. Biases up to 42% for Mg in the needles and 200% for K in the shoots were obtained when only long shoot tissues are used for content evaluation. For needles and shoots, Mg and K are more difficult nutrients to evaluate. A sampling methodology is proposed for evaluating nutrient contents of the living crown.

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  1. Centre de Recherche en Biologie Forestière, Faculté de Foresterie et de Géomatique, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, Université Laval, G1K 7P4, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada

    Robert Myre & Claude Camiré

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  1. Robert Myre
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  2. Claude Camiré
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Myre, R., Camiré, C. The effect of crown position and date of sampling on biomass, nutrient concentrations and contents of needles and shoots in European larch. Trees 10, 339–350 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02340781

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