Christina Lundgren. (2004). Microfibril angle and density patterns of fertilized and irrigated Norway spruce. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 1 article id 439. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.439

Keywords: ring width; growth rate; juvenile wood; MoE; X-ray diffraction

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Two Norway spruce nutrient optimisation trials, one in the north of Sweden and one in the south, were used to study the effects of intensive growth and fertilization on wood density and microfibril angle. Three different treatments and a control were available; daily irrigation, daily liquid fertilization and solid fertilization. The nutrient optimisation was based on foliage analysis and the solid fertilization essentially comprised the same amount of nutrients but was applied annually in solid form. Measurements of density and microfibril angle (MFA) were performed using X-ray diffraction. Growth rate, expressed as a transformation of annual ring width, was very important at the southern site when the effect of cambial maturation had been taken into account. Effects of both fertilization and irrigation remained strong and significant for density, and irrigation was a significant factor explaining MFA. At the northern site distance from pith was the dominant factor but the effect of growth rate was also strong and the treatment effect was significant for both density and MFA. The combination of higher MFA and decrease in density for fertilized trees resulted in a lower calculated strength of the wood. An over 100% increase in ring width only corresponded to approximately a 20% decrease in wood density and the production of wood dry matter was hence increased by treatments.

Lundgren, SLU, Dept. of Forest Products and Markets, P.O. Box 7060, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: christina.lundgren@spm.slu.se

article id 438, category Research article

Christina Lundgren. (2004). Cell wall thickness and tangential and radial cell diameter of fertilized and irrigated Norway spruce. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 1 article id 438. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.438

Keywords: cell wall thickness; tangential tracheid diameter; radial tracheid diameter; tracheid dimensions; nutrient optimisation; juvenile wood

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Two Norway spruce nutrient trials were used to evaluate the effects of fertilization and irrigation on transverse tracheid dimensions. Three different treatments and a control (C) were used; daily irrigation (I), daily liquid fertilization (IL) and an annual solid fertilization (F). The nutrient optimisation was based on foliage analysis and both liquid and solid fertilization essentially comprised the same amount of nutrients but the latter was applied annually in solid form. The cell measurements; cell wall thickness, radial and tangential cell widths, were obtained using image analysis (SilviScan at CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia). Mean annual cell wall thickness was decreased by fertilization (F and IL) on both sites whereas no effect of the irrigation on wall thickness could be detected. Radial cell width was increased by treatment at Flakaliden but at Asa the effect of irrigation and fertilization was reversed when the data structure i.e. development from pith and out and annual ring width was taken into account. Tangential cell width was not significantly affected by treatment at Flakaliden. At Asa fertilization caused a small increase on tangential cell width. Ring width was positively affected by treatment and is an important factor explaining the effects on primarily cell wall thickness and radial cell width.

Lundgren, SLU, Dept. of Forest Products and Markets, P.O. Box 7060, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: christina.lundgren@spm.slu.se

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