Current issue: 58(4)
Compression wood of the tree species studied in this investigation, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and common juniper (Juniperus communis L.), was found to be characterized in its cross section by the thick walls and rounded shape of its tracheids and the profuse occurence of spaces. Tension wood of aspen (Populus tremula L.) and alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench) was found in microscopic examination to be characterized by the gelatinous appearance of the wood fibres, by its small cell cavities and by the thickness and buckling of the inner layer of the cecondary wall. Tracheids of the compression wood were found to have shorter length than normal on an average, while the tension wood fibres were found to be longer.
The microchemical studies suggest a higher than normal lignin content in compression wood and lower than normal lignin content in tension wood, as compared to normal wood. The reverse would be true for the cellulose contents. Volume weight of absolute dry reaction wood was distinctly higher than that of normal wood. The longitudinal shrinkage of reaction wood, particularly of compression wood, is several times that of normal wood. Transversal shrinkage of compression wood is much less than normal wood. Swelling tests revealed pushing effect of compression wood on elongation and pulling effect on tension wood on constraction. Volume shrinkage of compression wood is less than that of normal wood, in contrast to tension wood. The strength of compression wood in absolutely dry condition was nearly same as that of normal wood.
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The effective heating values of the above and below ground biomass components of mature Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh), silver birch (B. pendula Roth), grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench), black alder (A. glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) and aspen (Populus tremula L.) were studied. Each sample tree was divided into wood, bark and foliage components. Bomb calorimetry was used to determine the calorimetric heating values.
The species is a significant factor in the heating value of individual tree components. The heating value of the wood proper is highest in conifers. Broadleaved species have a higher heating value of bark than conifers. The species factor diminishes when the weighted heating value of crown, whole stems or stump-root-system are considered. The crown material has a higher heating value per unit weight in comparison with fuelwood from small-sized stems or whole trees. The additional advantages of coniferous crown material are that it is non-industrial biomass resource and is readily available. The variability of both the chemical composition and the heating value is small in any given tree component of any species. However, lignin, carbohydrate and extractive content were found to vary from one part of the tree to another and to correlate with the heating value
This study aimed at establishing calibrations to predict nutrient concentrations of solid moose (Alces alces L.) rumen content using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), as an alternative to expensive chemical analyses. NIR reflectance spectra of 148 dry pulverized samples were recorded. The scanned samples were then analyzed for crude protein, available protein, microbial nitrogen (N), ash, acid-detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and lignin contents following standard chemical analysis procedures. The calibration models were derived by Orthogonal Projection to Latent Structure (OPLS) and validated using external prediction sets. The calibration models accurately predicted crude protein, available protein and ash contents (R2 = 0.99, 0.96, and 0.92, prediction error = 0.39, 0.72 and 0.53% dry matter, respectively) while NDF (R2 = 0.92; prediction error = 2.23% dry matter) and ADF (R2 = 0.89; prediction error = 1.94% dry matter) were predicted with sufficient accuracy and that of microbial-N (R2 = 0.81; prediction error = 1.25 mg yeast-RNA g–1 dry matter) and lignin (R2 = 0.84; prediction error = 1.05% dry matter) were acceptable. The ratio of performance to deviation values were > 3.0 for crude protein and available protein, between 3.0 and 2.5 for ADF, NDF and lignin, and 2.32 for microbial-N; attesting the robustness of the calibration models. It can be concluded that NIR spectroscopy offers a quick and inexpensive procedure for prediction of nutrient concentrations of solid rumen contents in wild herbivores.