Relationships between growth and foliar nutrient concentrations in Eucalyptus deglupta

Summary Relationships beween nutrient concentrations and the growth of the fast growing tropical eucalypt E. deglupta were examined at two sites in Papua New Guinea. At the Gogol Valley site a predominantly linear relationship was found between growth and foliar N over the range 0.68–2.04 per cent N. At the Kerevat site the relationship between growth and foliar nutrients was less strongly developed (foliar N varied from 1.77 to 3.36 per cent). The combined data could be described by a second degree polynomial. Height=11.05N – 2.03N² – 3.52P – 4.46.This accounted for 72 per cent of the variation in height. Based on this relationship a tentative critical foliar N concentration (corresponding with 90 per cent of maximum height) of 2.1 per cent is proposed. re]19760128