Quality assessment of Pinus radiata production under sustainable nursery management based on compost tea

Pinus radiata is a highly valued conifer because of its timber production and its value as a reforestation plant. To increase production, nurseries currently use a nutritional method based on mineral fertilizers high in macronutrients. This produces individual trees which are unbalanced in size and more likely to suffer infections from phytopathogenic fungi. In this paper, the effect on plant and soil of applying an aerated compost tea (ACT) is compared to a conventional fertilizer. Biometric measures of pines, their nutrient and pigment concentrations, soil physical‐chemical parameters and microbial composition of the rhizosphere along with its enzymatic activity were analyzed. The results reveal that the physical‐chemical parameters of the soil are suitable for plant growth in all the treatments (pH 8, maximum EC of 0.07 dS m^?1 and +239 mV of E_h), and high phosphatase activity was detected in the peat fertilized with aerated compost tea. In addition, the microorganisms developed in peat with ACT showed greater Pseudomonas spp. and fungal diversity. Pines fertilized with compost tea showed greater radicular development, proportionate distribution, higher photosynthetic pigment and total potassium concentrations, a higher yield of PSII and a greater photosynthetic assimilation rate than conventionally fertilized and unfertilized pine plants. Therefore, ACT could be used in the production of forest plants without compromising their productivity.     

Field Performance of Pinus radiata D. Don Produced in Nursery with Different Types of Containers

We have studied the development in nurseries of containerized Pinus radiata produced with different container systems in order to choose the most suitable system for producing well-balanced plants with an optimal root system. At the end of the production period, significant differences were found in morphological responses among the seedlings to the various container characteristics. Seedlings grown in containers that permitted lateral air puning presented less growth and lower biomass production. However, root deformations were more frequent and severe in plants produced in closed-wall containers. Field performance was likewise mainly affected by container type and plant growth rate, as faster grown plants showed more problems of stability than plants with a balanced root and stem development.     

Effort rights‐based management

Effort rights‐based fisheries management (RBM) is less widely used than catch rights, whether for groups or individuals. Because RBM on catch or effort necessarily requires a total allowable catch (TAC) or total allowable effort (TAE), RBM is discussed in conjunction with issues in assessing fish populations and providing TACs or TAEs. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, and there are trade‐offs between the two approaches. In a narrow economic sense, catch rights are superior because of the type of incentives created, but once the costs of research to improve stock assessments and the associated risks of determining the TAC and costs of monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement are taken into consideration, the choice between catch or effort RBM becomes more complex and less clear. The results will be case specific. Hybrid systems based on both catch and effort are increasingly employed to manage marine fisheries to capture the advantages of both approaches. In hybrid systems, catch or effort RBM dominates and controls on the other supplements. RBM using either catch or effort by itself addresses only the target species stock externality and not the remaining externalities associated with by‐catch and the ecosystem.