WOOD DENSITY AND ANNUAL RING WIDTH OF PEDUNCULATE OAK FROM STANDS GROWN ON FORMER AGRICULTURAL LAND

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to determine differences in basic density and average annual ring width of pendulate oak wood collected from trees grown on former agricultural land and on forestland, using a dimensional method. The experiment was carried out in thewestern part of Poland, near to Poznan, which is in the central part of the European range of pedunculate oak. In our study the average basic density was 0.528 g.cm-3, and the value for former agricultural land was lower by 0.026 g.cm-3 than that for forest land. Differences in basic density values between these two land types were statistically significant. The average annual ring width in samples collected from forest land in our study was 2.48 mm, samples from former agricultural land were characterized by wider average annual rings. The results suggest that there are significant differences in quality of wood from former agricultural land and from forest. However, from view of wood quality and applications the difference is not important.