Wood Density and Fiber Length of <i>Eucalyptus Grandis</i> Grown in Kerala, India
Keywords:
Wood density, fiber length, within-tree variation, age effect, EucalyptusAbstract
Wood density and fiber length of Eucalyptus grandis were studied in trees of four age groups (3, 5, 7, and 9 years). The average basic density was 495 kg m-3 at 3 years and there was no significant increase from 3 to 9 years, whereas 5-year-old trees had a significantly lower value. Fiber length increased consistently with age and fibers of 3-year-old trees (mean 0.81 mm) were about 29% shorter than those of 9-year-old trees (1.15 mm). Density did not differ significantly between the locations, but fibers were longer in one location where trees had faster growth. Density declined from stump level to 25% of tree height and then gradually increased towards the top in a curvilinear manner, whereas fiber length commonly showed the reverse trend. In 5-, 7- and 9-year-old trees, average tree density could be predicted with reasonable accuracy using breast height density, but stump level density was a better predictor of average tree density in 3-year-old trees.References
Bamber, R. K., and F. R. Humphreys. 1963. A preliminary study of some wood properties of Eucalyptus grandis (Hill) Maiden. J. Inst. Wood Sci. 11:63-70.nBamber, R. K., A. G. Floyd, and F. R. Humphreys. 1969. Wood properties of flooded gum. Aust. For. 33:3-12.nBamber, R. K., R. Horne, and A. Graham-Higgs. 1982. Effect of fast growth on the wood properties of Eucalyptus grandis. Aust. For. Res. 12:163-167.nBrasil, M. A. M., and M. Ferreira. 1979. Characteristics of wood fibers in three-year-old Eucalyptus grandis. IPEF No. 19:80-97.nCalinski, T., and L. C. A. Corster. 1985. Clustering means in ANOVA by simultaneous testing. Biometrics 14:39-48.nFerreira, M. 1972. Variations in basic density of wood of commercial plantations of Eucalyptus grandis at 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16 years of age. IPEF No. 4. 65-89 (FA: 1973, 34: No. 4782).nFranklin, G. L. 1945. Preparation of thin sections of synthetic resins and wood resin composites, and a new macerating method for macerating woods. Nature 155(3924):51.nGomez, K. A., and A. A. Gomez. 1984. Statistical procedures for agricultural research. Sec. Ed. Wiley Sons.nHans, A. S., J. Burley, and P. Williamson. 1972. Wood quality of Eucalyptus grandis (Hill) Maiden grown in Zambia. Holzforschung 26:138-141.nIkemori, Y. K., F. C. G. Martins, and B. Zobel. 1986. The impact of accelerated breeding on wood properties. Proc. 18th IUFRO World Congr., Div. 5, Yugoslavia. Pp. 359-368.nLadrach, W. E. 1986. Control of wood properties in plantations. Proc. 18th IUFRO World Crongr., Yugoslavia. Pp. 369-379.nMendes, C. J., W. S. Filho, G. C. De Rezende, and T. S. De A. Morales. 1980. Wood basic density studies of Eucalyptus grandis Hill Ex Maiden in plus trees and their progenies. IUFRO Symposium and Workshop on Genetic Improvement and Productivity of Fast-Growing Tree Species. Agnas de Pedro, Brazil.nRanatunga, M. S. 1964. A study of the fibre lengths of Eucalyptus grandis grown in Ceylon. Ceylon For. 6:101-112.nRastagi, K. P. 1983. Determination of sample size in simple random sampling. For. Sci. 29:190-192.nStein, C. 1945. A two sample test for a linear hypothesis whose power is independent of variance. Ann. Math. Stat. 16:243-258.nTaylor, F. W. 1973a. Variations in the anatomical properties of South African grown Eucalyptus grandis. Appita 27:171-178.nTaylor, F. W. 1973b. Differences in the wood of Eucalyptus grandis grown in different parts of South Africa. IUFRO Div. 5, South Africa, Spl. Rept. No. 75, 7 pp.nWang, S., R. C. Littel, and D. L. Lockwood. 1984. Variation in density and moisture content of wood and bark among twenty Eucalyptus grandis progenies. Wood Sci. Technol. 18:97-102.nWilkes, J. 1988. Variations in wood anatomy within species of Eucalyptus. IAWA Bull. n.s. 9:13-23.n
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The copyright of an article published in Wood and Fiber Science is transferred to the Society of Wood Science and Technology (for U. S. Government employees: to the extent transferable), effective if and when the article is accepted for publication. This transfer grants the Society of Wood Science and Technology permission to republish all or any part of the article in any form, e.g., reprints for sale, microfiche, proceedings, etc. However, the authors reserve the following as set forth in the Copyright Law:
1. All proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights.
2. The right to grant or refuse permission to third parties to republish all or part of the article or translations thereof. In the case of whole articles, such third parties must obtain Society of Wood Science and Technology written permission as well. However, the Society may grant rights with respect to Journal issues as a whole.
3. The right to use all or part of this article in future works of their own, such as lectures, press releases, reviews, text books, or reprint books.
