Effects of Brash Removal After Clear Felling on Soil and Soil-Solution Chemistry and Field-Layer Biomass in an Experimental Nitrogen Gradient

• Main Authors: E. Ring, L. Hogbom, H.A. Nohrstedt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2001-01-01
• Series: The Scientific World Journal
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2001.93

Biofuels, such as brash from forest fellings, have been proposed as an alternative energy source. Brash removal may affect the sustainability of forest production, e.g., through a change in the availability of cations and N in the soil. We report initial effects of brash removal on inorganic N content in humus and mineral soil, soil-solution chemistry, and field-layer biomass after clear felling an N-fertilisation experiment in central Sweden. The experiment comprised six different fertiliser levels, ranging from 0 to 600 kg N ha�1. Urea was given every 5th year during 1967 to 1982 to replicated plots, giving total doses of 0 to 2400 kg N ha�1. Clear felling took place in 1995, 13 years after the last fertilisation. The removal of brash decreased the NO3� content in the humus layer after clear felling. A decrease in the NO3� concentration of the soil solution was indicated during most of the study period as well. No effect of the previous N fertilisation was found in the humus layer, but in the mineral soil there was an increase in NO3� content for the highest N dose after clear felling (p = 0.06). The soil-solution chemistry and the field-layer biomass showed an irregular pattern with no consistent effects of brash removal or previous fertilisation.