Variations in wood traits and specific gravity in male clone of Populus deltoides Bartr. Ex Marsh

Abstract

Abstract The present study deals with the variations of wood anatomical characters and specific gravity in male F 1 offspring of Populus deltoides. ANOVA indicated that within-ramet difference between the means at differents heights of male offspring clone were significant for specific gravity only and non-significant for other wood traits studied. The specific gravity also increases from base to top of the ramet following an increasing trend. The variations for fiber length and vessel element length were significant for direction. The fiber length, fiber wall thickness and vessel element length significantly varied for different radial position. The interactions of height*direction and direction*position were non-significant for all wood traits except fiber outer diameter in height*direction interaction. The non-significant variations in different wood elements of single ramet of Populus deltoides due to peripheral and radial-direction may be related to the early maturity of clone raised tree. It seems non-significant variations in the wood element dimension’s at different directions of Populus deltoides regulate the homogenous wood properties in the discs. The different types of ratios such as Runkel Ratio, shape factor, fiber length/diameter ratio and wall ratio were determined and are important particularly for determining the suitability of a particular material for pulping and paper making. The objectives of the study is to evaluate the wood quality on the basis of specific gravity, Vessel and fiber morphology and other wood anatomical parameters in the F1 male clone of Populus deltoides.