ABSTRACT
This work was carried ou to evaluate the influence of different pruning intensities on some aspects of quality of wood (such as percentage of summerwood and quantity of knots) obtained from first thinning of Pinus elliottii Engelman plantation forest. Random three-replication blocks were utilized, set on a ten-year old stand, where five treatments were analysed: T1 – with no pruning; T2 – dry pruning; T3 – pruning of 40%; T4 – 50%, and T5 – 60% of the total canopy height, respectively. In each experimental unity, three trees were sampled. From each the first two logs were taken as well as two disks, at 0.10 and 2.5 metres of height. The logs were cut into 0.04 x 0.08 x 2.5 metre nominal size beams and analysed the quantity of knots. The disks were used to determine the summerwood percentage. The data analysis with any of the variables studied did not show any significant linear regression, at a 5% significance level. No significant differences were found among treatments means of the variables studied.
Keywords:
pruning; wood quality; summerwood; knots