Wood quality variability was assessed in material from four-year-old trees of Melia dubia Cav. grown in a agro-forestry trial. Log taper, longitudinal growth strains and acoustic velocity were measured in logs. Longitudinal growth strains were well below the threshold level to cause any growth stress related concerns during wood processing. The logs were sawn and wood properties were measured in air-dried condition. Acoustic velocity in log was strongly correlated with the average velocity in sawn boards extracted from the log. Wood basic density was ranging from 390 kg/m3 to 593 kg/m3, Dynamic modulus of elasticity was ranging from 8.35 GPa to 13.72 GPa and volumetric shrinkage was ranging from 9.54% to 14.63%. In both logs and sawn wood, acoustic velocity was not related to wood density indicating the two independent parameters.
Melia dubia Cav. is gaining popularity in plantation forestry and agroforestry systems in India due to its fast growth, coppicing ability and adaptability to variety of soil conditions. The wood from this species is being recognized to have tremendous potential for plywood industry and could also be used for pulp industry (Parthiban et al., 2009; Saravanan et al., 2012). The utility of this species for different applications would largely depend on its wood properties. Chauhan and Arun Kumar (2014) have reported significant variation in wood quality in trees from a plantation and suggested selection of superior genotypes based on wood quality for further propagation. Sharma et al., (2013) assessed certain wood quality parameters of selected genotypes of Melia dubia grown in a seedling seed orchard and they observed significant variation. The variability in wood quality may have economic implication in effective utilization of this species. Since the species is rapidly becoming an integral part of agro-forestry system where the trees are an alternate source of income to the farmers, it is essential to know the wood quality of such trees.
Among the wood properties, wood density is considered to be one of the most important properties as to a large extent this property is linked to many other wood properties like strength. Modulus of elasticity or stiffness is critical in establishing the suitability of wood for light structural to structural applications.
(Source: This is an abstract taken from the 'My forest' Journal; March - June 2017. The authors are Shakti Chauhan, Sandhya Sharma, Pankaj Aggarwal and Nagaraju, . You can read the entire article at aranya.gov.in)
