Abstract

OLIVEIRA, Hélène; RODRIGUES, Abel; CASQUILHO, Miguel  and  BORDADO, João. Impact of the Attack by Pine Wood Nematode on the Technological aptitude of Solid Timber. Silva Lus. [online]. 2008, vol.16, n.2, pp.149-173. ISSN 0870-6352.

This work intends to assess the influence of the attack by the pine wood nematode (PWN) on its technological aptitude as wood, through mechanical characterization of specimens, obtained from lots of kiln dried commercial wood, with and without attack symptomatology. The usefulness of this study is due to the economical importance of maritime pine in Portugal and to the recent outbreak of the attack in the country. Physical and mechanical properties, namely density; static bending, resistance to axial compression and modulus of elasticity of static bending were studied, aiming to evaluate the technological changes of wood. The results were discussed as a function of symptomatology of nematode attack, density and of the number of growth rings per unit radial length (cm). The results were analyzed statistically in terms of multivariate analysis of variance, correlation between variables and linear regression. It was verified that, with the presence of symptomatology, density and rupture stress decreased more significantly, having such decrease not been sufficient to compromise the technological value of wood. It was also noticed that the axial compression rupture stress, and static flexion, in conjugation with the number of growth rings per cm, were the most favorable indicators of the occurrence of attack symptomatology.

Keywords : Mechanical properties; nematode; maritime pine.

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