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Comparison of wood quality of even-aged Teak (Tectona grandis L.f.) plantations in three districts of Sri Lanka
By lakmali | March 3, 2010
D.P. Weerasinghe and H.S. Amarasekara
Teak is listed as a super luxury timber in Sri Lanka and it has a high demand from construction and furniture industries. Teak hardwood is highly durable. It is an exotic species and, almost all teak plantations are located in dry and intermediate zones of the country. There are about 35,000 ha of teak plantations and most of these plantations are managed by the Forest Department. These plantations are distributed throughout many administrative districts in the country. Despite of its importance as a high-demand species in the market, there have been limited or no research studies conducted to assess the wood quality of teak grown in different districts.
This study compares the wood quality of even-aged teak plantations in three districts of Sri Lanka, i.e., Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Ratnapura teak from Ratkarawwa area (Ratnapura district) was specially selected for comparisons, since there is a general belief among people that Ratkarawwa produce superior quality teak in comparison to other teak growing areas of the country.
Quality of teak wood was assessed by analyzing specific gravity and percentage of heartwood. Ring width was taken as the indicator of growth rate.
Three 45-year old trees of 45 grown in state plantations were examined in this study. Sample disks were extracted at breast height from each tree. Ring width and specific gravity of each ring was measured. The mean ring width values recorded for trees from Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Ratnapura districts (A=2.679mm, K=2.652mm, R=3.106mm) did not differ significantly. The mean specific gravity values of trees from three districts (A=0.6142, K=0.6587, R=0.6901) were statistically significant. It was also observed that there is no significant relationship between ring width and specific gravity in the three districts. Heartwood percentage and wood colour were also analyzed to illustrate wood quality.
Slightly higher specific gravity value and high heartwood percentage were observed in Ratnapura teak. Furthermore, growth rate is high in this area and it contributes towards gaining high timber volume.
According to timber characteristics investigated in this study, it can be inferred that Ratkarawwa area (Ratanapura) produce high quality teak in comparison to the other two districts and, economically good teak wood are produced by plantations in Ratanapura district. However, other areas are also capable of producing good quality teak timber.
D.P. Weerasinghe and H.S. Amarasekara
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Topics: Forest Management, Plantations, sympoisum 2009 | No Comments »