Wood density is a variable influencing many of the technological and quality properties of wood. Previous studies have shown that wood density is an important indicator for wood end-use as it strongly affects the general quality of most of the products produced from wood. Understanding the pattern of wood density radial variation is important for its end use.
The present study was carried out to determine the pattern of wood density radial variation of Acacia seyal var. seyal tree species. For this purpose, thirty healthy trees were collected randomly from 10 forests distributed in four states in Sudan namely, Blue Nile state, Northern Kordofan state, Southern Kordofan state and white Nile state. Two discs of 10 cm thickness were cut from each tree, the first at 10% from the merchantable height and the second at 90%. One strips with 3 x 3 x tree diameter in cm (include tree’s pith) were taken from each disc. The wood basic density was evaluated for five radial portions represent the distance from pith to bark which are 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 90%. The density measured based on dry weight and green volume. ANOVA test was used to test the variation among the five selected radial portions using SPSS (version 18.0) program.
The results revealed that Acacia seyal var. seyel wood density follows the increase pattern from pith to bark. The results revealed also significant variation among the five selected representative portions from pith to bark.
Keywords: Acacia seyal, density, radial variation
Authors
Gamal H.M.S.
institute of Forest Utilization and Forest Technology, Department of Forest Sciences, Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany
University of Khartoum, Department of Forest Products and Industries, Khartoum, Sudan
Bues C.T.
Institute of Forest Utilization and Forest Technology, Department of Forest Sciences, Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt Technische Universität Dresden
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