Ilari Lumme

Early effects of peat ash on growth and mineral nutrition of the silver birch (Betula pendula) on a mined peatland.

Lumme I. (1988). Early effects of peat ash on growth and mineral nutrition of the silver birch (Betula pendula) on a mined peatland. Silva Fennica vol. 22 no. 2 article id 5344. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15501

Abstract

Two-year-old silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) seedlings were fertilized with three peat ash dosages (10, 50 and 150 metric t/ha) and planted at three densities (2,000, 10,000 and 25,000 seedlings/ha). The peat and mineral soil were mixed together by deep ploughing before peat ash application. The results indicate that the 10 t/ha of peat ash may be too low a dosage and 150 t/ha too high for the silver birch seedlings. The 50 t/ha ash dosage increased growth markedly, obviously due to an enhancement in soil and foliar P, Mg and Ca content, soil pH, microbial activity and mobilization of soil organic nitrogen. Both foliar and soil P were already enhanced with the 10 t/ha peat ash dosage. The K content of the peat ash was low, however, and it may be that fertilizer K should be applied later.

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Keywords
Betula pendula; fertilization; nitrogen; silver birch; peat ash; mined peatlands

Published in 1988

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15501 | Download PDF