Economics of intercropping loblolly pine and switchgrass for bioenergy markets in the southeastern United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Susaeta ◽  
Pankaj Lal ◽  
Janaki Alavalapati ◽  
Evan Mercer ◽  
Douglas Carter
1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 785-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Green ◽  
Patrick J. Minogue ◽  
Charles H. Brewer ◽  
Glenn R. Glover ◽  
Dean H. Gjerstad

Absorption and translocation patterns of radio-labelled glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) were examined in four species of woody plants to determine mechanisms of herbicide tolerance in species common to the southeastern United States. Loblolly pine (Pinustaeda L.) and yaupon (Ilexvomitoria (L.) Ait.), both tolerant to the herbicide, absorbed significantly less glyphosate than did red maple (Acerrubrum L.) or white oak (Quercusalba L.), indicating the importance of foliar absorption as a barrier to glyphosate entry. Although herbicide absorption was similar between the sensitive white oak and the tolerant red maple, white oak accumulated more glyphosate in the roots than did red maple, indicating that translocation patterns also contribute significantly to glyphosate tolerance in some woody species.


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 660-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Van Deusen

A number of recent studies have shown reduced stand-level and individual-tree growth in natural loblolly pine (Pinustaeda L.) stands in the southeastern United States. This study uses increment cores from dominant and codominant trees to determine if individual-tree growth has changed from 1915 to 1985. The cores are grouped for comparison by first sorting on the basis of median stand age and then further sorting these groups of cores by individual-tree age. These trees experienced increasing basal area increments from the mid-1940s into the mid-1970s, after which growth rates returned to preincrease levels. These data support recent findings of growth reductions, but also indicate previously unreported growth increases preceding the growth decreases. These and supplemental permanent plot data suggest that stand dynamics is a viable hypothesis for explaining these growth trends.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Eckhardt ◽  
Mary Anne Sword Sayer ◽  
Don Imm

Abstract Pine decline is an emerging forest health issue in the southeastern United States. Observations suggest pine decline is caused by environmental stress arising from competition, weather, insects and fungi, anthropogenic disturbances, and previous management. The problem is most severe for loblolly pine on sites that historically supported longleaf pine, are highly eroded, or are not managed. The purposes of this technical note are (1) to describe the symptomology and extent of pine decline in the southeastern United States; (2) to describe its connection with root disease, resource stress, and silviculture; and (3) to summarize the consensus opinion of scientists and land managers during a workshop sponsored by the US Army Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program regarding the scope of this syndrome and the best research avenues to counter its potential effect on the sustainability of southern pine forests.


2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Albaugh ◽  
H. Lee Allen ◽  
Thomas R. Fox

Abstract Based on historical forest fertilization survey records, over 16 million ac were fertilized in the southeastern United States from 1969 to 2004, with the peak forest fertilizer application in 1999, when 1.59 million ac were fertilized. The 1999 applications were largely on loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.; 91%) in established stands (78%) and included both nitrogen and phosphorus, typically as urea and diammonium phosphate fertilizers, respectively. On a tonnage basis from 2000 to 2004, the average amount of forest-applied urea and diammonium phosphate represented 2.5% of those materials applied in the United States. The number of acres fertilized approximately doubled every 2 years from 1991 through 1999. This increase can be attributed to a shift in forest production interests to the southeastern United States at a time when research results were showing positive biological and economic responses to nitrogen and phosphorus applications in midrotation southern pine stands. Common application rates for nitrogen and phosphorus were 200 and 50 lb elemental nitrogen ac−1and 25 and 50 lb elemental phosphorus ac−1 for stands >2 years old and ≤2 years old, respectively. In 1994, application of elements other than nitrogen and phosphorus, including potassium, boron, and magnesium, began in response to newly available research results. Boron was applied to 30% of the total number of acres fertilized in 2004, likely because boron, when applied with urea, may reduce nitrogen volatilization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 450 ◽  
pp. 117532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dehai Zhao ◽  
Bronson P. Bullock ◽  
Cristian R. Montes ◽  
Mingliang Wang ◽  
Dale Greene ◽  
...  

Weed Science ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. Dill ◽  
M. C. Carter

Weed control trials were conducted on loblolly pine (Pinus taedaL.) or slash pine (Pinus elliottiiEngelm.) seedbeds at 12 locations in the southeastern United States. Good weed control was obtained from 2,4-bis-(isopropylamino)-6-(methylthio)-s-triazine (prometryne) at 2.2 and 4.5 kg/ha;N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenylacetamide (diphenamid) at 4.5 and 9 kg/ha; α,α,α-trifluoro-2,6-dinitro-N,N-dipropyl-p-toluidine (trifluralin) at 1.1 and 2.2 kg/ha; and 2-ethylthio-4,6-bis-isopropylamino-s-triazine (GS-16068) at 2.2 and 4.5 kg/ha as preemergence applications immediately followed by irrigation. Diphenamid and trifluralin treatments were not injurious to either pine species at either rate. GS-16068 was only slightly injurious at the high rate at one location. Prometryne was injurious at two locations at the high rate and at one location at the low rate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Trlica ◽  
Rachel L Cook ◽  
Timothy J Albaugh ◽  
Rajan Parajuli ◽  
David R Carter ◽  
...  

Abstract Rising demand for renewable energy has created a potential market for biomass from short-rotation pine plantations in the southeastern United States. Site preparation, competition control, fertilization, and enhanced seedling genotypes offer the landowner several variables for managing productivity, but their combined effects on financial returns are unclear. This study estimated returns from a hypothetical 10-year biomass harvest in loblolly pine plantation using field studies in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and the Virginia Piedmont testing combinations of tree genotype, planting density, and silviculture. Although enhanced varietal genotypes could yield more biomass, open-pollinated seedlings at 1,236–1,853 trees ha−1 under operational silviculture had the greatest returns at both sites, with mean whole-tree internal rates of return of 8.3%–9.9% assuming stumpage equal to current pulpwood prices. At a 5% discount rate, break-even whole-tree stumpage at the two sites in the optimal treatments was $8.72–$9.92 Mg−1, and break-even yield was 175–177 Mg ha−1 (roughly 18 Mg ha−1 yr−1 productivity), although stumpage and yield floors were higher if only stem biomass was treated as salable. Dedicated short-rotation loblolly biomass plantations in the region are more likely to be financially attractive when site establishment and maintenance costs are minimized. Study Implications: Our study suggests that dedicated loblolly pine plantations in the US Southeast may be managed to generate positive financial yields for biomass over relatively short (10 year) rotation windows, even at lower stumpage value than at present for pulpwood in the region (<80% current). Intensive use of costly inputs like fertilizer, vigorous chemical competition control, and elite genetics in planting stock did improve biomass yields. However, the management combinations that favored the highest financial returns emphasized the least expensive open-pollinated stock, lower-input operational silviculture, and moderate-to-high planting density.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Carter ◽  
H Lee Allen ◽  
Thomas R Fox ◽  
Timothy J Albaugh ◽  
Rafael A Rubilar ◽  
...  

Abstract In 2019, the Forest Productivity Cooperative (FPC) celebrated its 50th anniversary. The mission of the FPC is and has been creating innovative solutions to enhance forest productivity and value through the sustainable management of site resources. This industry-government-university partnership has generated seminal research with sweeping implications for increasing productivity throughout the southeastern United States and Latin America. To commemorate this semicentennial, we highlighted some of the pivotal findings in the southeastern United States from the past 50 years derived from our large, regional experiments: regionwide trials. Study Implications: Fifty years of research have yielded substantial management implications for intensively managed loblolly pine in the southeastern United States. Some of our most impactful findings are the following: our generalized fertilization rate of 200 lb ac−1 elemental N and 25 lb ac−1 elemental P has been found to increase growth on most plantations in the region when applied at or before midrotation, whereas the addition of K and micronutrients was found to be important on the Pleistocene Terraces. Stands with a leaf area index (LAI) less than 3.5 will respond to fertilization, increasingly, so the lower the initial LAI. Our long-term site preparation studies demonstrated the importance of pairing optimal site preparation with fertilization and that subsoiling and tillage typically yielded lesser gains than fertilization and vegetation control at establishment. Fertilization tends to be more important to growth responses at midrotation than onetime vegetation control treatments, but an additive response when the two treatments are applied together is generally experienced. When fertilization is paired with thinning, the rate of postthinning diameter growth is accelerated.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document