Current issue: 58(5)
Time study on different techniques in nursery pot filling operations at SUA Training Forest in Northern Tanzania was conducted. The results showed that improved tools and work place design significantly decreased the operation time, hence increased productivity. In addition, worker’s comfort was generally increased.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The distribution of the minimum temperatures after the beginning of the active period (one temperature for each spring) have been calculated for each principle using daily meteorological data collected during the years 1883–1980. The efficiency criterion is the variance of the minimum temperature distributions and the length of the active period. The most efficient regulation principle is found to be based on the temperature sum which includes a feedback component.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The architecture of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was studied in an eight-year-old progeny test. The measurements included characteristics of crown structure, spatial distribution of shoots and yield components. The spatial distribution of shoots showed striking between-tree differences, and two extreme distribution patterns were detected. One represented a non-layered structure with a vertically relative even shoot distribution, and the other a layered structure with a vertically highly uneven shoot distribution.
Close correlations existed between several components of tree architecture and it is suggested that changes in the phenotypic architecture in Scots pine follow an epigenetic pattern, which enables the prediction of adaptational changes in structural components. The structural characteristics related to high above-ground biomass were a long crown, high total shoot length, high number of branches per whorl and big shoots of low needle density occupying a big share of the crown volume.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The study presents methods that incorporate the amenity of a forest area into the management planning. The management plan is based on treatment schedules simulated for each compartment over the 20-year planning period. The best combination of treatment schedules is selected by multi-objective optimization. The amenity is divided into two parts: (1) within-stand amenity and (2) the amenity of landscape when viewed afar (distant scene). The within-stand amenity is expressed in terms of adjective sum which is estimated from stand characteristics. The adjective sum of the whole area in a selected year can be taken as an objective or constraining variable of optimization. The assessment of the distant scene is based on computer illustrations which show the predicted temporal change of landscape according to a particular management plan.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The study was made in the Ivalojoki and Oulankajoki valleys, consisting of terraces of well sorted sandy material aged 9500–300 B.P. The vegetation is characterized by dry and moderately dry forest types with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) as the dominant tree species. The study included: forest types, particle size and sorting of mineral horizons, thickness of horizons, amount of organic material, pH, electrical conductivity, and NH4OAc (pH 4.56) extractable Fe, Al, P, K, Mg, Mn and Zn concentrations. The principal aim was to study the interrelationships between all these properties with special reference to the age of the soil.
The results allowed a distinction to be made between the following categories: (1) features typical of podsolization (e.g. increase in leaching of Fe and Al with age of soil from the A2), (2) certain factors showing higher values in the north (Ivalo) than in the south (Oulanka), principally Fe and Mg, (3) declining trends in P, Mg, Mn and Zn concentrations with age, which may partly be due to the geological history, and (4) declining trends in amount of organic material and electrical conductivity with age, these both being factors arising from the geological history rather than from podzolization.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
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.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.