Prognosis of the Volume Growth of Eucalypts Trees, in Plantations, in the Southern Region of Brazil

Abstract

This paper deals with the prognosis of the individual volumetric growth of Eucalyptus species in the Brazilian South Region. It was accomplished in a fertilizer trial with Eucalyptus dunnii and a competition trial among species (E. bicostata, E. "cambiju" - natural hybrid, E. deanei and E. viminalis) implanted in Vila Velha, PR. The method of successive regressions, modified to the exponential form, including the volume at three years of age and survival was applied. The results gave evidence of acceptable efficiency of the method to estimate individual volumetric growth of the trees of the stands, especially for E. deanei and E. dunnii, species well adapted to the region. However, species with low growth potential, for example E. bicostata, presented low individual and stand volumes at the end of the rotation, despite its high survival. It was necessary to include survival in the model, for better accuracy for E. "cambiju" with decreasing survival along the rotation.