Author(s):
Vasconcelos, Ernesto 
; Ribeiro, H.M. ; Ramos, A. ; Coutinho, J.
Date: 2007
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/1051
Origin: Repositório da UTL
Subject(s): eucalyptus globulus; mother plants; nitrogen; potassium; pés-mãe; azoto; potássio
Description
In Portugal the traditional propagation of
Eucalyptus globulus Labill (E. globulus)
by seed is being replaced by vegetative
propagation by stem cuttings. However, for
E. globulus, there is no sufficient information
related to the management of mother
plant fertilization. So, it is important to
study the relationship between the fertilization
of the mother plant and the rooting
ability of the cuttings.
With the aim of evaluating the effect of
nitrogen and potassium on E. globulus
mother plants, a fertilization experiment
was performed during 2 years. 2 clones of
E. globulus (clone HD161 and clone CN5)
were fertilized, periodically, with 6 different
nutrient solutions corresponding to 3
levels of nitrogen (50, 100 and 200 mg N
L-1) and 2 levels of potassium (50 and 100
mg K L-1). In 1998, stock plants were subjected
to formative pruning. In 1999, biomass,
number of cuttings produced by the
mother plants and rooting ability of the
cuttings were evaluated.
With the two levels of potassium applied
no significant effects were found.
On the contrary, increasing levels of nitrogen
applied to the mother plants led to:
i) an increase of total biomass, ii) a higherproduction of stem cuttings, iii) an improvement
of the rooting ability of the cuttings.
Results showed that nitrogen fertilization
and, as consequence, nitrogen reserves,
constitute a limiting factor for rooting in E.
globulus cuttings. Thus, research on the
optimization of nitrogen fertilization of E.
globulus mother plants should be performed.
