Assessing the wood quality of interior spruce (Picea glauca × P. engelmannii): variation in strength, relative density, microfibril angle, and fiber length

Abstract

Abstract A dynamic interrelationship exists among wood density and fiber traits (tracheid length and microfibril angel, MFA) and the ultimate wood strength properties. Moreover, many of the basic fundamental wood attributes are heavily influenced by crown size and architecture. In an attempt to examine this interplay, we thoroughly characterized 60 interior spruce (Picea glauca × P. engelmannii) trees sampled in three age classes from four sites in central British Columbia. Breast height discs were taken, and relative wood density was measured along two radii. Tracheid length was assessed on isolated 5 years increments from pith to bark at breast height for each tree, as was MFA. Segmented regression was used to identify the “juvenile to mature wood” transition point, which revealed transition ages of 9.4 and 15.1 years for wood density and MFA, respectively, while fiber length continued to elongate until near 60 years of age. The flexural properties, modulus of elasticity (MoE) and modulus of rupture (MoR), were also quantified in the 60 individuals and found to be best predicted by VFV, a measure of tree vigor, and not the basic wood attributes. These findings imply that long crowns carrying large amounts of foliage, VFV, negatively impact wood strength in interior spruce.