Crescimento em diâmetro e altura da regeneração natural de Eremanthus incanus

Abstract

The species Erematnhus incanus (Less.) Less has commercial use for production of poles and fence posts. This research aimed to analyze the effect of different initial densities on diameter and height growth in natural regeneration stands of Eremanthus incanus. An experiment was conducted with four randomized blocks and six treatments per block, which corresponded to different plant densities, after applying thinning to the regeneration. Growth models were tested for the variables diameter at 1.30 m above ground and total height. In addition, probability density functions were tested to characterize the structure of diameter and height. It was applied analysis of variance and, when appropriate, the Tukey test at 5% probability. The Schumacher model was the one with best performance to characterize the growth in diameter and height, and Johnson SB model the best in order to characterize these variables. The initial densities of plants that caused the highest mean diameter throughout the ages were 2,222, 2,667 and 3,333 plants per hectare, and for the variable height there were no significant differences between the treatments averages.