Radial variation of wood density and fiber morphology of two commercial species in a tropical humid forest in Southeastern Peru

ABSTRACT

Background:

Knowledge of the anatomy and properties of wood help to understand the quality of wood and plan its ideal technological use, therefore, it is necessary to understand the variations in wood characteristics and properties. Here we evaluate the radial variation of wood density and fiber morphology of two commercial forest species in a tropical humid forest of the department of Madre de Dios in Peru: Jacaranda copaia and Hura crepitans collected in a management area.

Results:

Forestry collecting 10 usable trees by species. We provide general values of the densities and fibers of the two species studied.

Conclusions:

Regarding the variation of the radial density, J. copaia presented a density growth in the pith-bark direction, while for H. crepitans its variation was not significant, these variations are clearly explained by the morphology of its fibers.

Key words:
Tropical wood; wood anatomy; wood quality; X-ray densitometry.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Jacaranda copaia species presented an increase in density in the bark-pith direction, while for the Hura crepitans species there was no significant variation, these variations are explained by the fiber morphology of its fibers. The biomass of wood and the biomechanics of these species since density and fibers are directly related.