Table 1.
Comparison of soil characteristics of the three planting sites located along a climatic gradient.
| Traits | Sites | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Watford (south) | Asselin (intermediate) | Deville (north) | |
| pHCaCl2 | 4.50 ± 0.31a* | 3.89 ± 0.28b | 3.89 ± 0.16b |
| C.E.Ctotal (méq/100 g) | 25.97 ± 2.15b | 33.24 ± 2.53a | 34.61 ± 7.38a |
| Carbon (g/kg) | 41.60 ± 5.42a | 30.88 ± 7.53a | 33.63 ± 9.61a |
| Nitrogen (g/kg) | 3.14 ± 0.37a | 2.29 ± 0.25b | 1.93 ± 0.38b |
| Phosphorus (mg/kg) | 12.10 ± 5.26a | 12.13 ± 8.98a | 9.125 ± 3.36a |
| Potassium (mg/kg) | 76.90 ± 27.93a | 55.25 ± 17.18a | 53.63 ± 10.17a |
| Calcium (mg/kg) | 608.90 ± 455.15a | 169.71 ± 170.12ab | 79.90 ± 42.95b |
| Magnesium (mg/kg) | 34.30 ± 12.40a | 23.57 ± 12.32ab | 18.75 ± 7.27b |
| Manganese (mg/kg) | 19.10 ± 9.11a | 7.29 ± 4.07b | 10.25 ± 4.40ab |
| Aluminium (mg/kg) | 1586.00 ± 198.06b | 1995.00 ± 383.88a | 2305.00 ± 245.59a |
| Iron (mg/kg) | 233.20 ± 66.10b | 452.25 ± 67.71a | 331.25 ± 93.63ab |
| Zinc (mg/kg) | 1.76 ± 0.84a | 2.50 ± 1.07a | 1.58 ± 0.80a |
| Sodium (mg/kg) | 8.00 ± 4.31a | 5.86 ± 6.13b | 4.86 ± 3.64b |
| Sulphur (mg/kg) | 17.10 ± 4.31a | 14.13 ± 6.13a | 14.87 ± 3.64a |
*
For a given row, the means (n = 10), followed by their standard errors, having the same letter are not significantly different according to a Tukey test at α = 0.05.