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Heartwood proportion and density of Tectona grandis L.f. wood from Brazilian fast-growing plantations at different ages

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Abstract

The high demand for teak wood has driven efforts to achieve increased volumetric production in fast-growing plantations. However, the logs often exhibit higher proportions of sapwood and juvenile wood. This study was conducted to investigate how the age of teak trees in commercial plantations influences the heartwood proportion, wood density, and formation of mature wood. A total of 12 trees of both clonal and seed origins were harvested at the ages of 5, 10, 15, and 20 years old. Disks in the regions of the base, 2.3 m, and top of the trees were collected. Along the stem, we determined the total, heartwood, and pith diameters, as well as the proportions of bark, sapwood, heartwood, and pith. The base disks were used to analyze wood density and to demarcate the transition from juvenile to mature wood stages by X-ray densitometry. As teak wood aged, it exhibited higher heartwood percentages, with variations ranging from 7% (5 years old) to 56% (20 years old). The five-year-old wood had the mean highest density (0.74 g.cm−3). There was a trend of increasing mean wood density as the trees aged from ten years. The diameter profiles by X-ray densitometry indicate a higher wood density in the pith-bark direction. The density of 20-year-old wood ranged from 0.54 g.cm−3 (ring 1) to 0.78 g.cm−3 (ring 19). For all ages evaluated, juvenile wood is predominant, with the transition age occurring at approximately 11 years old. However, only 15- and 20-year-old trees had mature wood in their heartwood, but it was less than 2% of the total heartwood at those ages.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Wood Technology Laboratory from the Federal University of Mato Grosso and the Wood Properties Laboratory of the Federal University of Viçosa for all team contributions. We also thank Guavirá Industrial and Agroflorestal Ltda. for the supply of materials necessary for the realization of this work. Finally, we are grateful for the financial support of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Forest and Environmental Sciences, Forest Engineering Faculty, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil

    Kezia Rage Curvo, Gabriel Afonso Oliveira Silva, Fernando Henrique Gava, Bárbara Luísa Corradi Pereira & Aylson Costa Oliveira

  2. Department of Forest Engineering, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Kezia Rage Curvo & Vinícius Resende Castro

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  1. Kezia Rage Curvo
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  2. Gabriel Afonso Oliveira Silva
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  4. Fernando Henrique Gava
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Curvo, K R; Oliveira, A C; Pereira, B L C. Methodology: Curvo, K R; Silva, G A O; Castro, V R; Gava, F H. Formal analysis and investigation: Curvo, K R; Oliveira, A C; Pereira, B.L. C; Castro, V R. Writing—original draft preparation: Curvo, K R. Writing—review and editing: Pereira, B.L. C; Aylson Costa Oliveira; Supervision: Oliveira, A C; Pereira, B.L. C; Castro, V R. The manuscript is part of the Master’s dissertation of the first author. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kezia Rage Curvo.

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Curvo, K.R., Silva, G.A.O., Castro, V.R. et al. Heartwood proportion and density of Tectona grandis L.f. wood from Brazilian fast-growing plantations at different ages. Eur. J. Wood Prod. 82, 357–369 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-023-02031-5

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