A Dynamic System of Growth and Yield Equations for Pinus patula

Sustainable forest management needs tools that can predict how silvicultural treatments will affect cutting stands. Growth and yield systems are an example of these tools because they can represent periods of growth and yield of a stand in numerical terms. The aim of this research was to develop a dynamic growth and yield timber system with the stand-level models approach for Pinus patula in even-aged forests of Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. The data was obtained from two consecutive remeasurements of 66 permanent 400 m2 plots. With this information, prediction and projection equations in the algebraic difference approach for mean diameter at breast height (DBH), basal area and total volume per hectare were fitted through the seemingly unrelated regression technique. Mortality was fitted by the non-linear least squares method. A model of dominant height and site index (Levakovic II) with polymorphism was related to basal area, DBH, total volume ha−1 and mortality equations. The growth system generated an average optimal age rotation of 32 years when the current annual increment (CAI) was the same as the mean annual increment (MAI) for the mean site index and a density of 1500 trees ha−1 at five years. The growth and yield system developed is an important tool for planning forest management of even-aged P. patula forests