Crescimento de Eucalyptus grandis em diferentes densidades populacionais.

This study was carried out in the region of Santa Barbara, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in a plantation of Eucalyptus grandis in which plant density varied from 500 to 5000 trees ha-1 in different plots. The assessments were performed between August 1994 and April 1995 when the trees were 31 and 39 months old, and consisted of measuring circumference at breast height (CAP), height, biomass of average tree above-ground components in each plot, crown depth (PC), leaf area per tree (AFPL), specific leaf area (AFE), leaf area index (IAF), and rate of circumference growth over the measurement period. At the age of 31 months, all components of the above-ground biomass production as well as of the litter layer showed a linear decrease in relation to increase in the initial effective area available for each plant (AUD). Increase in AUD also reduced the IAF, the stem wood-weight to leaf-weight relation and the stem wood proportion to the total biomass. On the other hand, the leaf proportion to the total biomass increased along with increase in AUD