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Fertilisation with potato starch wastewater effect on the growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest in Poland

Nella Waszak Orcid Logo, Filipe Campelo, Iain Robertson Orcid Logo, Radosław Puchałka Orcid Logo, Fatima-Zahraa El Balghiti, Jožica Gričar, Ali Boularbah, Marcin Koprowski Orcid Logo

Trees, Forests and People, Volume: 15

Swansea University Author: Iain Robertson Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.tfp.2023.100480

Abstract

Fertilisation is often used to increase plant productivity in agriculture but has also been used in forestry. In our study, Scots pine forest growing in a nitrogen-poor environment was fertilised with NPK post-production wastewater from a potato starch factory. Our research aimed to investigate the...

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Published in: Trees, Forests and People
ISSN: 2666-7193
Published: Elsevier BV 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65706
Abstract: Fertilisation is often used to increase plant productivity in agriculture but has also been used in forestry. In our study, Scots pine forest growing in a nitrogen-poor environment was fertilised with NPK post-production wastewater from a potato starch factory. Our research aimed to investigate the dependence of tree growth on different NPK concentrations. Cell characteristics such as cell wall thickness (CWT), lumen diameter (LD) and tree-ring features such as ring width (RW), total number of cells in annual growth (nTotal), earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) were investigated. Twenty-six years of regular fertilisation of the forest with different doses of wastewater rich in NPK elements have affected the anatomical structure of Scots pine trees. It is presumed that the reduction in CWT and LD on the fertilised site was due to deficiencies in plant water conductivity, which may have occurred due to physiological drought. The influence of nitrogen on unfertilised site from the wastewater area could contribute to the CWT thickening. The results confirm that the use of NPK in excessive doses is detrimental to trees' conductive system.
Keywords: Wastewater effluents; Forest fertilisation; Cell measurements; Tree-ring width; Wood anatomy
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: We want to thank Nicolaus Copernicus University for funding research from IDUB/RG: Weather and Climate: Reconstructions and Future Scenarios (WERS) (03.01.00003850).

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