Ukrainian Journal of Forest and Wood Science

The influence of organic fertilizers on the growth and development of Scotch pine seedlings during cultivation of forest plantations on sandy and sandy-loam soils of fresh poor and rich pine sites was analyzed. The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of the influence of organic and organic-mineral fertilizers on the survival and development of Scotch pine plantations in the fresh poor and rich pine sites, to give recommendations on the production of fertilizers for the purpose of creating pine plantations on soils of light mechanical composition. The research was carried out on the forest-cultivated area of the State Enterprise “Vyshche-Dubechna Forestry”, whose territory is classified as the Eastern-Polissia district of the forest-based forestry area in the forest-economic division. Experimental forest plantations of Scotch pine were planted in fresh poor pine sites on sandy soils in Novosilkivsky forestry in the block of 794, units 11, 12. The similar plantations were planted in the block 562, unit 17 in the Pyrnovsky forestry, in the fresh rich pine sites on sandy-loam soils. Experimental plantations were made on April 17, 2018. In total, the effect of six types of fertilizers was investigated: the forest litter (upper humus 1–3 cm layer); cow humus; biofertilizer “Dostatok”; chicken manure; “Jiffy Forestry” tablets; “Hydrogel LUXSORB”. Plantations were created on plots, the width of which were 12 m and included 7 rows of furrows with a total length of 30 m or more. The effectiveness of the use of cow humus, chicken manure and natural upper horizon of litter during the creation of forest plantations on sandy soils has been established. The application of fertilizers on sandy-loam soils showed that the height of seedlings in the experimental variants exceeded in 1.4–1.7 times the height of the control plantings. The growth of seedlings was best influenced by the introduction of biofertilizer “Dostavok”, fertile layer of litter and cow humus. Seedling heights at areas with these fertilizers were 11.34, 11.00 and 10.12 cm respectively. The highest preservation of seedlings was recorded in plantations with the application of chicken litter, “Jiffy Forestry” tablets and cow humus, which had sufficient moisture and showed themselves as wet storages. The preservation of forest plantations in areas with fertilizer application in a fresh rich pine sites fluctuates within 85–95 % and exceeds a similar index of control sites by an average of 5 %. The causes of a significant destruction of seedlings became prolonged drought in the after-planting period, which lasted for 27 days, the burn of crowns of seedlings, low fertility of sandy soil and lack of moisture in the soil. In general, the survival and preservation of forest plantations in the conditions of fresh poor pine sites on sandy-loam soils is 9–17 % higher than the similar indicator of pine plantations created in poor sites on sandy soils (68.5–86.3 %). All natural organic and biofertilizers have a significant advantage over the control plantings. The calculation of Student's criterion for independent samples of each variant of fertilizer application to control has shown that its value varies within 4,08–5,17, which is greater than the critical value of 2,00 with the number of degrees of freedom 60 and the significance level of 0,05. Consequently, it follows from the conclusion of the differences between the biometric indices of seedlings in areas with fertilizers and control plantings, which indicates the appropriateness of the use of fertilizers during the creation of pine plantations.

biological fertilizer, height, crown diameter, survival, preservation