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Detection, description, and technological properties of colour aberration in wood of standards and shoots from a chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) coppice stand

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Abstract

Sweet chestnut forests occupy an important role in Italy and Europe, its resilience is often affected by aggressive pathogen attack. In the last times some chestnut wood colour aberrations have attracted attention suggesting intercorrelation with biotic attacks. The present study analyses chestnut wood from a coppice-with-standards stand in Central Italy aiming to understand the reasons for discolorations in respect to a possible effect on wood physical and mechanical character. Wood specimens with different chromatic aberrations were analysed by mechanical tests, microscopic techniques (SEM), specific density measurements, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Standing trees and logs were investigated by IML-RESI. Results by SEM show as all stained wood zones correspond to mycelium presence and abnormal cell wall morphologies. No real trend was found between specific density, or compressive strength, with coloured samples, infact some test samples with colour aberrations had the highest value for specific gravity. Comparing sound wood with stained wood, the semiquantitative analysis by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy allowed to detect a change in the ratio lignin/cellulose which might be due to a white rot fungus. IML-Resi has showed wood decay symptoms at root collar in coppice standards with a decrease in amplitude at least of 30%. The results find an agreement with similar studies carried out in Spanish chestnut suggesting to indeep the analysis to investigated the geographical distribution and the impact of the damage.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the municipality of Lariano (Rome), in particular Dott. Fabrizio Dezi for the support.

Funding

The research was funded by the “Departments of Excellence—2018” Program (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, DIBAF-Department of University of Tuscia, Project “Landscape 4.0—food, wellbeing and environment”. Further support was recieved by the project PON-MISE (“Imprese e Competitività”) F/2000 03/01-03/X45 “Innovazione e sostenibilità della filiera Foresta-Legno: bioeconomia circolare del legno e valorizzazione di foreste dell’Italia centro-meridionale”. The research was supported also by of Lariano municipality.

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  1. Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia (UNITUS), Viterbo, Italy

    Swati Tamantini, Sara Bergamasco, Luigi Portoghesi, Anna Maria Vettraino, Florian Zikeli, Giuseppe Scarascia Mugnozza & Manuela Romagnoli

  2. TU Wien, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna, Austria

    Florian Zikeli

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  1. Swati Tamantini
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Experimental plan MR. Data acquisition ST and SB. Results and Discussion all the authors. First draft MR and ST. Reviewing, checking and improving the manuscript GSM, LP, AMV and FZ. Final version checked by all the authors.

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Correspondence to Manuela Romagnoli.

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Tamantini, S., Bergamasco, S., Portoghesi, L. et al. Detection, description, and technological properties of colour aberration in wood of standards and shoots from a chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) coppice stand. Eur J Forest Res 141, 683–698 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-022-01468-2

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