Influence of soil and climate variability in the growth of eucalyptus clones in Bahia Northeast

Abstract

The objective was to study the growth of three eucalypts clones in different soil types and precipitation (PP) history in Northeastern of Bahia. We used data from permanent plots measured in eucalypts clonal stands in Paleudult, Haplorthox and Quartzipsamment. The average annual PP ranged from 700 mm to 1700 mm. Growth models were adjusted for age at dominant height, quadratic diameter, basal area and volume per ha for each combination of clone and soil. To analyze the effect of precipitation PP in volume prediction we included a modifier associated with PP in Gompertz model. The highest growth in the Paleudult was obtained by clone 1. The adjusted model, which included PP, reduced errors around 62.9% compared with traditional biological model. We concluded that considering soil and PP variability in growth models in areas with wide variability of PP affected the accuracy of the estimates. Moreover, the analysis of growth curves in different soils and PP helps define the appropriate clone for sites where there is no inventory information.