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Genetic and environmental variation in wood properties of Acacia melanoxylon

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Abstract

Context

Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), is a fast-growing, high-quality, appearance-grade timber species native to eastern Australia. Some of its key wood properties are percentage heartwood, heartwood colour, basic density, wood stiffness and green moisture content. Variation in these properties affects log value, processing and marketing.

Aims

This study aims to understand how genetics and environment affect these wood properties.

Methods

Stem cores were taken from 16 open-pollinated blackwood families from the island of Tasmania, Australia, which were planted across three 18-year-old progeny trials.

Results

Significant effects of genetics, environment and their interaction (GxE) were found for many of the wood properties examined. Both broad-scale and local environmental effects were apparent, with local effects associated with competition and/or allelopathy from a Eucalyptus globulus nurse crop present in one trial. No significant correlation of growth rate (i.e. stem diameter) with wood properties was detected at the family level apart from a positive relationship with heartwood width. At the phenotypic level, there were many significant correlations including growth rate with heartwood width, but not with basic density, or wood stiffness measured as standing tree time of flight. Faster growing trees had yellower heartwood while trees with higher basic and green densities tended to have darker, redder and less yellow heartwood.

Conclusion

Both genetic and environment factors affect key wood properties of Australian blackwood, but in most cases these effects were independent of growth rate.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge assistance from Tim Davis and Philip Whiteaway in helping collect field data and David Clinch from Custom Cabinets, North Hobart in helping prepare stem cores for colour measurement.

Funding

This research was funded by The Australian Research Council, project LP0562357 and supported by Forestry Tasmania, Private Forests Tasmania, Britton Timbers Tasmania, Forests and Forest Industry Council of Tasmania, Gunns Veneers and Corinna Sawmills.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    Gordon J. Bradbury & Brad M. Potts

  2. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, Private Bag 12, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    Chris L. Beadle

  3. Tasmanian Institute for Agricultural Research, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    Chris L. Beadle

Authors
  1. Gordon J. Bradbury
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  2. Brad M. Potts
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  3. Chris L. Beadle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gordon J. Bradbury.

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Handling Editor: Jean-Michel Leban

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Bradbury, G.J., Potts, B.M. & Beadle, C.L. Genetic and environmental variation in wood properties of Acacia melanoxylon . Annals of Forest Science 68, 1363–1373 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-011-0115-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-011-0115-x

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