SPACING EFFECT ON SOME PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF Tectona grandis Linn WOOD

Abstract

The Tectona grandis (teak) stands out for the high productivity and quality of its wood. The ideal spacing of a tree species is the one that maximizes the wood ratio and improves wood quality, being therefore the main point to be considered in the research of forest management of teak. This work verified the influence of the spacing on some physical properties of 31-year old Tectona grandis wood and the radial variability of these properties. In this study it was used the randomized blocks with 3 treatments (3 x 1,5m; 3 x 2m and 3 x 2,5m) and 5 repetitions, where 15 trees with average diameter obtained in populations of Pederneiras/SP region. In each tree, a disc of 7cm  thick in the region of the DBH (diameter at breast height) was removed and from each disc were taken samples in different distances in the pith-to-bark  radial direction (pith, central and bark). The studied properties were: specific gravity, volumetric shrinkage and basic density. According to the results, it could be concluded that the spacing of the trees influenced significantly only the specific gravity, where the larger spacing differed from the minor ones. An increase of the specific gravity also occurred in the pith to bark direction.