Aplicação do método de amostragem de Bitterlich para obtenção de estimativas de látex em um povoamento de Hevea Brasiliensis

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the Bitterlich sampling method in obtaining estimates of latex production in a rubber tree plantation in Monte Carmelo, Minas Gerais. The plantation is 13.2 hectares in size and composed of the RRIM 600 cultivar, which is 11 years old and planted at a spacing of 8.00 x 2.90 m. Four Bitterlich Bars with different basal area factors were used to collect sample data. For each evaluated sampling method, the confidence interval for latex production per hectare and total area was presented, along with the relative error of the forest inventory. The sampling intensity for each method was evaluated considering an admissible error of 10%. The paired t-test was used to compare the estimates obtained by the Bitterlich method with those of the fixed area method. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the statistical similarity of tree frequency in diameter classes between the two methods. The study concluded that the average diameter with trees selected by the Bitterlich method should be obtained by Nishizawa’s expression and that factor 1.0 can be used to obtain estimates of latex production per tree by the Bitterlich method. It was also observed that increasing the basal area factor of Bitterlich resulted in overestimates and that none of the factors studied favored the description of the diameter distribution of the plantation.