Above- and below-ground relationships in teak stands

ABSTRACT There is little information available about leaves and root of teak in Brazil. The goals of this work were to evaluate if the above-ground components, biomass and leaf area, are good biomass and root surface estimators in teak (Tectona grandis) stands. In the sampling, executed in 17 and 90-month-old teak trees established in commercial stands, the roots, stem, branches and leaves were separated to determine the dry biomass and SLA (specific leaf area) and SRA (specific root area). The leaf surface of a young tree is four times larger than the surface of an adult teak tree leaf. The fine roots surface (< 2 mm) is four times larger than the medium roots surface (2 to 5 mm) in adult trees. In these stands, on average, SLA was 13.14 m² kg-1 and SRA 13.86 m² kg-1, indicating similar C use efficiency in the production of surfaces for acquisition of resources (solar radiation, water and nutrients) and suggesting that there is synchrony in the C allocation for leaves and roots. LAI was 1.2 m2 m-2 in the young plants and 8.3 m2 m-2 in the adult plants. Leaf area and aboveground biomass have strong relationship with fine and middle roots area and roots biomass, reflecting the trees carbon allocation patterns at the age that they were assessed. The leaf area is a good estimator of the surface area of teak roots.