Formation of heartwood, chemical composition of extractives and natural durability of plantation-grown teak wood from Mexico

Abstract

Abstract Currently, there is an increasing interest in Mexico to grow teak in large-scale plantations. Teak is recognized for its natural durability combined with high mechanical strength. The present study aims at determining the quantitative and qualitative properties of teak wood for several age classes and provenances, originating mainly from three localities of south eastern Mexico, while the focus was on the extractives and the natural durability of teak samples. The percentage of heartwood (hW) formed by the plantation trees was within the range reported elsewhere for the corresponding age classes, while the hW% was in relation with the tree height and age. Further trends observed were: lower topo-chemical absorbance that was measured by ultraviolet microspectrophotometry (UMSP) of the inner hW compared to the outer hW; no clear correlation between the age and origin and the extractives’ composition accumulated in the hW; abundant presence of tectoquinone irrespective of the age and provenance; and finally, high resistance against white rot (WR) and brown rot (BR) fungi regardless of the age or provenance.