Mikko Havimo, Juha Rikala, Jari Sirviö, Marketta Sipi. (2009). Tracheid cross-sectional dimensions in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) – distributions and comparison with Norway spruce (Picea abies). Silva Fennica vol. 43 no. 4 article id 188. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.188

Keywords: Norway spruce; Scots pine; cell wall thickness; radial diameter; tangential diameter; distribution

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

Cell wall thickness and tracheid radial and tangential diameter are important characteristics in papermaking. These fibre cross-sectional dimensions affect paper properties such as light scattering, and tear and tensile indexes. In the authors’ previous article, the mean values and distributions of tracheid cross-sectional dimensions were obtained for Norway spruce (Picea abies). This article characterises the cross-sectional tracheid properties of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) using exactly the same methodology as in the previous study on Norway spruce, which enables the comparison between the tree species. The distributions for Scots pine cell wall thickness and tracheid radial diameter were similar: a narrow peak due to earlywood tracheids, and a wide peak due to latewood tracheids. The tangential diameter distributions for Scots pine were very similar in both earlywood and latewood, having one wide peak. Also, the distributions in whole stem, top pulpwood and sawmill chip assortments were quite similar. The differences between Scots pine and Norway spruce tracheid cross-sectional dimensions were fairly marginal. This is at least the case when comparing large tracheid populations, in which differences tend to even out. The situation may be different on a more detailed level of observation, for example, when individual annual rings in the different tree species are compared.

Havimo, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: mikko.havimo@helsinki.fi
Rikala, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: jr@nn.fi
Sirviö, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: js@nn.fi
Sipi, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ms@nn.fi

article id 266, category Research article

Mikko Havimo, Juha Rikala, Jari Sirviö, Marketta Sipi. (2008). Distributions of tracheid cross-sectional dimensions in different parts of Norway spruce stems. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 1 article id 266. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.266

Keywords: Norway spruce; cell wall thickness; earlywood; latewood; tracheid dimension; tangential width; radial width

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

Distributions of three cross-sectional dimensions: radial and tangential tracheid width, and cell wall thickness in different timber assortments of Norway spruce were investigated. Wood samples from a mature stand were measured with SilviScan. In the analysis, virtual trees were constructed from measurement data, and divided into three assortments: whole stem, top pulpwood and sawmill chips. Average values and distributions of the properties were calculated for all assortments, and distributions divided into earlywood and latewood across the whole tree assortment. There was considerable variation within latewood in all three cross-sectional dimensions, but variation in earlywood was slight in radial width and cell wall thickness. In earlywood, tangential tracheid width showed considerable internal variation, and the difference between earlywood and latewood in tangential width was small. Within-assortment variation of all three properties was larger than between assortments. We may conclude that only a moderate difference in pulp properties can be achieved by sorting raw material into sawmill chips and top pulpwood. Pulp fractionation into earlywood and latewood seems to be a more efficient method, since it gives classes with small within-class variation and distinct average properties. However, it should be kept in mind that the results are valid only in mature stands, where growth rate variation and juvenile wood content are small.

Havimo, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: mikko.havimo@helsinki.fi
Rikala, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: jr@nn.fi
Sirviö, KCL, P.O. Box 70, FI-02151 Espoo, Finland E-mail: js@nn.fi
Sipi, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Resource Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ms@nn.fi

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles

Follow @SilvaFennica