03320naa a2200265 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902200140006002400270007410000180010124501600011926000090027950006360028852018220092465300310274665300230277765300280280065300400282865300120286870000190288070000170289970000180291670000150293477301050294910642602023-07-20       2023    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a1999-49077 a10.3390/f140611192DOI1 aGONZÁLEZ, A.  aHarvest residue decomposition from Eucalyptus sp. plantations in temperate climatebindicators and contribution to nutrient cycling.h[electronic resource]  c2023  aArticle history: Received 28 April 2023; Revised 17 May 2023; Accepted 26 May 2023; Published 28 May 2023. -- Academic Editors: SongzeWan, Jianping Wu and Shaofei Jin. -- Correspondence author: alejandrogonzalezuruguay@gmail.com . -- This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nutrient Cycling and Microbial Dynamics in Forests (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/special_issues/4GVMPM2MQ5). -- LICENSE: Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). --  aThe sustainable management of forest plantations by keeping the harvest residues on site improves the soil?s chemical, physical and biological properties while constituting an important nutrient reserve. Our objectives were: (a) to identify and quantify the characteristics of Eucalyptus dunnii, Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus globulus that affect the decomposition rates of harvest residues, as well as indicators that can explain the process and (b) to quantify the potential recycling of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) to the soil from residue decomposition and the quantitative and qualitative differences between the species. We analyzed the information of five commercial plantations of Uruguay. At the harvest, the biomass of leaves, thin and thick branches, bark and their respective N, P, K, Ca and Mg contents were quantified. At each site, bags with samples of the different residues were left to decompose and were periodically collected throughout 24 months. Eucalyptus dunnii presented the largest amounts of residues of all parts. The decomposition rates of the different residues depended on their chemical constitution, part size and the species. Eucalyptus dunnii leaves showed the shortest half-life (0.94 years), while the bark of the same species presented the longest (5.62 years). Total nitrogen and carbon (total and soluble) contents, which can be easily determined, emerged as good predictors for half-life estimation. The release patterns of nutrients depended more on their dynamics in the plant and their parts than on the species itself. The results highlight the importance of nutrient recycling to ensure the sustainability of the productive system in the medium and long term. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.  aHarvest residues half-life  aNutrient recycling  aSISTEMA FORESTAL - INIA  aSustainability of the forest system  aUruguay1 aHERNÁNDEZ, J.1 aDEL PINO, A.1 aHIRIGOYEN, A.1 aUBALDE, J.  tForests. 2023, Volume 14, Issue 6, Article 1119. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14061119  --- OPEN ACCESS.