Natural Durability of the Heartwood of Coast Redwood [Sequoia Sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.] and its Prediction Using near Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

The heartwood of plantation-grown coast redwood trees from three forests in the North Island, New Zealand, was evaluated using in vitro decay tests with fungal cultures to determine variation in natural durability and its prediction using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The NIR spectra were acquired from the solid wood surface, prior to decay testing, using a fibre-optic probe attached to a Bruker MPA FT-NIR spectrometer and an imaging spectrograph coupled to a NIR line camera. The partial least squares (PLS) regression models of mass loss with fungal decay testing, based on spectra collected with the FT-NIR spectrometer, had better predictive performance than the NIR line camera, as evidenced by fewer latent variables and slightly better R 2. The ratios of prediction to deviation (RPD) were 1.3 to 1.4 for both the spectrometer and camera system, which suggests the PLS regression models could be used to segregate the heartwood of coast redwood for high-and low values of natural durability.

The chemistry and bioactivity of various heartwood extracts from redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) against two species of fungi

“…These samples contained wood from old-growth trees and second-growth trees. Their findings were consistent with the large variability in natural durability reported for plantation-grown redwood from New Zealand (Jones et al 2011(Jones et al , 2014. Heartwood durability according to Standard EN350-1 (CEN 1994) varied from 'notdurable' to 'very-durable' , with the majority of samples being 'durable' or 'very-durable'.…”

“…Natural durability significantly increased from pith to bark and slightly from bottom to top in the heartwood of the stem. These radial and axial gradients in natural durability were confirmed for oldgrowth and second-growth trees (<100 years) (Clark and Scheffer 1983), and are consistent with the data reported for plantation-grown redwood from New Zealand (Jones et al 2011(Jones et al , 2014. Gradients in natural durability have also been observed in other species (Taylor et al 2002) and highlight the general inferior wood quality of corewood, the wood formed by cambium of young age (Burdon et al 2004).…”

“…This is especially true for wood from young trees as the desired properties usually improve with tree age (Walker 2006). The natural durability of redwood timber has been reported to be highly variable, ranging from very durable to moderately/non-durable (Clark and Scheffer 1983;Scheffer and Morell 1998;Jones et al 2011). Variation in natural durability exists among trees (due to genetic and environmental factors) as well as within trees (mainly associated with cambial age).…”

Assessing Trees, Wood and Derived Products with near Infrared Spectroscopy: Hints and Tips

“…The ultimate application of NIR spectroscopy of wood or wood products is to substitute for costly and time-consuming reference measurements in order to aid process optimisation or determine properties and genetic traits on large numbers of 53 ), as well as both its physical (e.g. mass loss, equilibrium moisture content [54][55][56][57] ) and mechanical properties (e.g. density, MOR, MOE, tensile strength [58][59][60][61] ).…”

Cell Wall Property Changes of White Rot Larch during Decay Process

“…It has been widely used in study of pulp, paper, and wood (Berben et al 1987;Rodrigues et al 1998;Schultz et al 1985;Schwanninger et al 2004). Research regarding changes of functional groups during wood decay has been carried out with FTIR (Fackler et al 2006;2010;Jones et al 2011). Fackler et al (2011 used FTIR to find that the cleavage of glycosidic bonds of polysaccharides preceded metabolization of white rot.…”