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The aim of this study was to show the effects of five tree-selection strategies when thinning on quality and growth properties of Norway spruce stands, and their potential for improving quality in the stands. The five strategies were thinning to retain high-quality (HQ) and low-quality (LQ) trees, thinning from above (A) and below (B) and thinning to obtain an even distribution of residual trees (S). The study was conducted in two planted stands close to rotation age, located in southern Sweden, which had been thinned twice since the establishment of the thinning experiment. In the two quality-based treatments trees were selected for harvest on the basis of the following growth and quality traits: tree class, vitality, dbh, height, straightness, branch diameter and quality defects. The quality traits were found to be largely independent of tree size, thus the selection strategies based solely on dbh (A and B) did not improve quality within the stands. Thinning targeting HQ traits promoted the retention and growth of HQ trees, and improved overall quality of the stands compared to the other treatments. HQ thinning increased the share of straight trees by 15%, on average. Significant proportions of stem crooks and quality defects detected before the first thinning were invisible 21 years after it. All thinned stands had higher proportions of naturally pruned trees than unthinned stands. The selection method had no influence on periodic annual increment after thinning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pine weevil, Hylobius abietis (L.), is a major pest in conifer reforestation areas in the Palaearctic region. Size and chemistry of the seedlings may explain the damage rates in plantations. The performance of 10-week containerized seedlings (mini-seedlings) was compared with 1-year-old conventional seedlings of Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.), in a field experiment in central Sweden. After 2 years the weevil damage was lower for the mini-seedlings than for the conventional seedlings (3.5 vs 55%). After 3 years, the overall survival was 82 and 75%, respectively. Weevil damage was the main cause of mortality for conventional seedlings, whereas mini-seedlings mainly died from drought. Volatiles of the two seedling types were compared by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). Unwounded mini-seedlings and conventional seedlings differed in their compositions of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Mini-seedlings mainly emitted limonene, known to be repellent to the pine weevil. When wounded, green leaf volatiles were released by mini-seedlings while the pine weevil attractant α-pinene was released by conventional seedlings. Volatiles may partly explain the mini-seedlings' resistance against weevil attack. Further studies are needed to clarify how long this mini-seedling effect remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]