Abstract

With conifer plantations having an increasingly important role in meeting the fiber needs of society, an understanding of the effect of silvicultural practices on wood quality is critical. The perception of wood quality varies, making it hard to define in a single statement; however, possibly the most succinct definition is “a measure of the aptness of wood for a given use”. In general, properties that have a positive influence on a specific product assist in defining changes in wood quality. Since wood properties exhibit large variability within annual rings, within trees, and among trees in a stand, and have both genetic and environmental components (i.e., vary with different physiographical regions), it is imperative to have an understanding of wood properties at multiple levels. In this paper, we review the typical variation patterns in wood properties of conifers, with specific emphasis on loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), and radiata pine (Pinus radiata D.Don), two of the most common conifer plantation species globally. We also describe the impact of conventional silvicultural treatments on wood quality. Modeling efforts to predict variation in wood properties within trees, and in response to silvicultural treatments are also summarized.

Highlights

  • Plantation forests have an increasingly important role in meeting the fiber needs of society

  • The use of genetically improved loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings with suitable silvicultural management resulted in mean annual increments of up to 9–12 m3 /ha/year being achieved over a 25 year rotation, when compared with 2–6 m3 /ha/year for the same rotation in the past [4,5]

  • Research on loblolly pine suggests that combining optimal silviculture operations with the best genetic material could increase its mean annual increment to 21 m3 /ha/year [3,4]

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Plantation forests have an increasingly important role in meeting the fiber needs of society. Research on loblolly pine suggests that combining optimal silviculture operations with the best genetic material could increase its mean annual increment to 21 m3 /ha/year [3,4]. Microfibril angle (MFA) is another important measure of wood quality as it determines shrinkage properties [14,15], and, coupled with wood density, explains much of the variation in MOE in clearwood [16,17], with knots influencing MOE in lumber [18,19,20]. In the last 20 years, rapid, nondestructive techniques for measuring wood properties were developed, and their emergence greatly reduced the cost of measuring wood properties in large numbers of trees, increased the potential for improving wood quality in the future, and improved our understanding of the effects of improved planting stock, and silvicultural practices on variation in wood properties. We summarize modeling efforts to predict wood property variation within trees and in response to silvicultural treatments

Wood Property Variation
Silviculture and Wood Quality
Planting Density
Fertilization and Competition Control upon Planting
Mid-Rotation Thinning and Fertilization
Irrigation
Wood Quality and Durability
Maps aa loblolly pine tree from the
Mathematical Models Predicting Silvicultural Responses in Wood Properties
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call