2. Materials and methods2.1. Experimental sites and soilsDetails of the study sites are provided in Table 1, and have beendescribed in previous publications (Sankaran et al., 2004;Mendham et al., 2004). In summary, the study sites comprised 2lowland (E. tereticornis) sites, and 2 upland (E. grandis) sites onFerralsol soils in Kerala, India. The plantations were establishedon sites where Eucalyptus had been grown for 2 rotations since1977 (E. tereticornis sites), and 3 rotations since 1968 (Surianelli),and 1958 (Vattavada). The 4 sites represented contrastingenvironmental conditions and soil fertility status, which was usefulfor interpreting the response of tree growth and N mineralizationto residue manipulation.2.2. Harvest residue manipulation in the fieldFour treatments were studied at each of the sites, comprisingZero residues (all residues, leaf litter, twigs and bark, removed fromthe plots), Burn (all residues redistributed evenly and burnt in theplot), Single residues (harvest residues retained and spread evenly)and Double residues (normal residue load plus all harvest originallyremoved from the Zero residues treatment). The treatments wereestablished in a randomised block design with 4 replications. Thegross treated plots were 20 m 20 m size, with an inner measureplotof 10 m 10 m. Due to space restrictions at the Kayampoovamsite, the gross plots there were 18 m 18 msize. All treatments hada starter fertiliser at establishment, added at rate of 100 g/tree N:P:K,17:7:14. The fertilizer was placed at 10-cm depth. The nutrient contentof the harvest residues was reported in Sankaran et al. (2005),but briefly, the above-ground biomass in the tree crop acrossthe sites contained of 94–174 kg N ha1, 8–40 kg P ha1, 83–266 kg K ha1,166–715 kg Ca ha1, and 21–75 kg Mg ha1. Moredetails on the nutrient contents and distribution within the treeand understorey components are presented in Sankaran et al., 2005.2.3. Soil samplingSoil samples were collected at 1 and 2 years after establishmentof the plantation, from the inner measure plots (10 m 10 m).Sampling was carried out in the first half of September of the years1999 and 2000, during the rainy season in Kerala. At this time ofthe year the soil moisture level was at field capacity. A total of 9soil cores were collected from each plot, from the 0–5 and5–10 cm depth ranges. The 9 cores from each plot were bulkedwithin depths to produce a single sample for each depth rangefrom each of the experimental plots. N mineralization was assessedon the 1999 samples, while other soil chemistry was assessed onthe samples collected in the year 2000. A sample processing errormeant that we could not use the samples collected in 1999 for soilchemical analysis other than N mineralization.2.3.1. N-mineralization studiesTo collect soil samples for N mineralization assessment, themineral soil was firstly exposed by removing surface litter deposits,and then steel cores (18 cores per plot, 4 cm diameter) weredriven in pairs into the soil to 20 cm depth and extracted with careso as to not disturb soil inside the core. The cores with soil weremaintained upright in polyethylene bags and transported tolaboratory under cold conditions in insulated containers. One setof cores (the ‘initial’ samples) was extracted immediately aftertransportation to laboratory. The soil cores were sectioned into0–5 cm, 5–10 and 10–20 cm intervals, the 9 cores per plot were mixed thoroughly within each of the depth ranges, so that eachplot was represented by 3 composite samples (1 for each depth),then sieved to <5 mm. The other set of cores (the ‘final’ samples)were incubated in the laboratory for 14 days at 25 C at fieldmoisture content (which was at or near field capacity). At theend of incubation period, soil was extracted from the cores andprocessed as described for initial samples. The sieved soil samples(from which 90% of soil was recovered) were stored for 2 days at4 C until analysis for mineral N.
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