BALANCE OF WATER AND ENERGY FOR EUCALYPTUS PLANTATIONS WITH PARTIAL SOIL COVER

ABSTRACT

Eucalyptus plots with initial development ages presented discontinuity in soil cover, resulting in greater exposure of the leaves to wind and solar radiation, which alters soil-plant-atmosphere interactions. The objective of this study was to study the components of the water and energy balances along the first year of eucalyptus development in the Brazilian coastal plain region. The experimental site is located in an area belonging to the company Fibria in the municipality of Aracruz, Espírito Santo state, Brazil. The space between the planted eucalyptus trees in the area studied was 3 x 3 m and the data of planting was on August 15th, 2004. The period of study lasted from the planting date until the plot reached an age of 19 months. It was verified that there was a greater availability of energy during the summer and the precipitation directly influenced the energy balance where during the period of study the energy available necessary for evapotranspiration was always greater than the fraction necessary for heating the soil-plant atmosphere system, presenting a λE/R ratio of 59.57%. It was also observed that the water balance with the modeled evapotranspiration showed a good correspondence with the observed moisture content, presenting a determination coefficient of 0,94. In the majority of trees, greater indices of leaf and root system areas favored evapotranspiration, indicating that most energy available was utilized for changing the phase of water.

Keywords:
young eucalyptus plantation; availability of energy and evapotranspiration