Productivity and nutrient cycling in poplar stands in central Himalaya, India

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Abstract
Productivity and nutrient-use efficiency were investigated in plantations of similar age of poplar clone D121 (Populusdeltoides Marsh.) that differed mainly in plant density. The plantations were located in the Tarai belt (low-lying area with high water table) of the Indian Central Himalaya. The total net primary productivity of the high-density plantation (4 years old with 666 trees/ha) was conspicuously higher (32.4 tones•ha−1•year−1) than that of the low-density (20 tonnes•ha−1•year−1) plantation (5 years old with 400 trees/ha), while nutrient-use efficiency was similar in these plantations. The net primary productivity/leaf nutrient ratios and percent nutrient retranslocation from senescing leaves were higher in the high-density than in the low-density plantations. In these young plantations leaf litterfall accounted for most of the litterfall (96–97%). The amount of nutrients that returned through litterfall to the soil was distinctly greater in the high-density plantation than in the low-density plantation. The greater nutrient return was due to first, the greater dry weight of litterfall and the lower proportional nutrient retranslocation from leaves during senescence in the high-density plantation. The high-density plantation also showed greater nutrient extraction efficiency from soil. Compared with a Eucalyptustereticornis Sm. plantation, and with natural forests of the study region, the nutrient use efficiency of poplar, regardless of its density, was lower.

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