<i>Relationship between growth strain and rate of growth in 22 year-old</i>Eucalyptus grandis

Abstract

Summary Using electronic strain gauges, longitudinal peripheral growth strain was measured at 1.6 m height in fifty 22-year-old plantation grown trees of Eucalyptus grandis (Hill) Maiden. The extent of peripheral growth strain was not found to be related to rate of growth. This result and measurements of internal growth strains in five 32-year-old trees suggested that splitting of wood during conversion would be less likely in trees with faster rates of growth, due to a lower longitudinal strain gradient along a radius from pith to outer xylem.