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Nitrogen cycling in dense plantings of hybrid poplar and black alder

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Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants

Part of the book series: Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences ((DPSS,volume 18))

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Summary

Nitrogen cycling was studied during the third growing season in pure and mixed plantings (33 × 33 cm spacing) of hybrid poplar and black alder in southeastern Canada. After 3 years, hybrid poplar growth and N content of living tissues in a plot and of individual hybrid poplar plants increased with the proportion of black alder in a planting. No differences were detected among N contents of individual alder plants regardless of plot treatment. Black alder allocated a larger portion of its N to roots than hybrid poplar. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation was estimated to account for 80% of the nitrogen in aboveground alder tissues in the pure treatment using natural 15N dilution. N return in leaf litter was estimated to be 70kg ha-1 in the pure alder treatment and decreased to a minimum of 20 kg ha-1 in the pure hybrid poplar plots. No difference was detected among treatments for throughfall N content. Nitrogen concentration in roots and leaf litterfall of black alder was higher than hybrid poplar. Significant soil N accretion occurred in mixed plantings containing two alders to one poplar and pure black alder plantings. Nitrogen availability (NO3-N) increased with the amount of black alder in a plot. Results suggest that the early increase in nitrogen accumulation of hybrid poplar in mixed treatments can be attributed to an increase of total soil N availability resulting from the input of large amounts of N from easily mineralizable alder tissue.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département des sciences forestières, Faculté de foresterie, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Qué., Canada, G1K 7P4

    B. Côté & C. Camiré

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  1. B. Côté
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  2. C. Camiré
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Département des sciences forestières Faculté de foresterie, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Qué., G1K 7P4, Canada

    M. Lalonde  & C. Camiré  & 

  2. Forestry Department, University of Illinois, 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    J. O. Dawson

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© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Côté, B., Camiré, C. (1985). Nitrogen cycling in dense plantings of hybrid poplar and black alder. In: Lalonde, M., Camiré, C., Dawson, J.O. (eds) Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5147-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5147-1_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8777-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5147-1

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