Nutritional diagnosis for eucalypt by DRIS, M-DRIS, and CND

The evaluation of the nutritional status in eucalypt (Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maid.) forests through vegetal tissue analyses what reflects water and nutrient flows in the system, and represents a complementary tool to soil analysis can be helpful to raise and maintain the forest productivity at high levels. This study compared the use of the Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS), Modified-DRIS (M-DRIS), and Compositional Nutrient Diagnosis (CND) diagnose methods in eucalypt stands in Central-Eastern Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Data of productivity and of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg leaf contents in 993 Eucalyptus grandis stands aging between 72 and 153 months, planted on six sites in 3 ´ 2 m spacing, were used. The nutritional status was diagnosed by the DRIS, M-DRIS, and CND methods, and validated by the chi-square (c²) test applied to the nutrients diagnosed as primary limiting by deficiency. These three methods were compared to each other based on the diagnosis concordance frequency (DCF) derived from the fertilization response potential (FRP) by the criteria considering each nutrient separately; from all (5) to none (0); and only the primary limiting nutrients by either deficiency or excess. The diagnosis concordance level among the methods was procedure-dependent, and varied according to the nutrient concentration in trees.