Variation in the wood properties of Paraserianthes falcataria planted in Indonesia.

摘要

In many tree breeding programmes, plus trees have been selected according to growth rate or stem form in trees. Trees that have a high growth rate or good stem form do not always produce industrially desirable wood. Therefore criteria for wood quality should be considered in tree breeding programmes. The objective of this study was to obtain the basic knowledge for breeding for wood quality in Paraserianthes falcataria [Falcataria moluccana], an important commercial tree species of Indonesia. Variation in the growth, log properties, basic density, and fibre length in 13-year-old P. falcataria was investigated. Even though all trees were of the same age, diameter at breast height showed high variation, indicating a significant variance in the growth rate of seedlings. Significant differences in the log properties (green density, dynamic Young's modulus, and stress-wave velocity) were observed among the trees. Basic density showed a constant value up to 10 cm from pith, at which point it began to increase. The fibre length increased up to 10 cm from the pith and then showed an almost constant value. According to the radial variation of the basic density and fibre length, wood is categorized as core wood, which includes that up to 10 cm from the pith, and outer wood, which is that from 10 cm to the bark. In addition, a significant difference in the basic density of core wood was observed among the trees, indicating that the selection of a plus tree with high-density wood in this species is possible at a relatively early stage. These results indicate that the wood quality in P. falcataria can be improved through tree breeding.