To meet the increasing demand for forest products, much of the future timber supply will come from trees grown in managed plantations. This work was carried out to analyze the effects of soil attributes on Pinus taeda wood quality to produce Kraft cellulose at Klabin Parana Cellulose Co., in Telêmaco Borba, PR, Brazil. The study focused on the influence of soil attributes on the anatomical, physical and chemical wood characteristics, as well as their relation to cellulose production. Eight sites with twelve-year-old trees were selected based on soil type, soil texture and primary vegetation. The soil variables studied were bulk density, total porosity, macroporosity, water availability, fertility and grain size distribution. For tree selection, dendrometric measurements of 50 trees were taken per site, and 5 average size trees selected per site. Total and commercial height and DBH were measured and discs removed. Tree samples were analyzed for basic density, chemical composition, tracheid morphological characteristics, nutritional status and Kraft cellulose production. The soil chemical attributes exerted significant influence on wood quality, but the soil physical attributes showed greater influence on cellulose productivity. Sites with higher growth rate and those with clay texture showed lower values of basic density, higher content of extract and lignin, thus showing lower content of holocellulose and cellulose, shorter and wider tracheids with thinner walls and higher lumen diameters, and lower cellulose yield. Based on these results, it was concluded that cellulose pulp characteristics can be estimated by analyzing wood characteristics combined with the existing site edaphic conditions.
Soil fertility; soil attributes; wood anatomy; wood chemistry
