Natural Durability of Narrow Leaved Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.) Wood from Planted and Natural Stands
Abstract
Sustainability of natural forests is under pressure due to some social and economic problems existing in developing countries. In such countries, creation of new resources for wood production by plantation establishment is necessary in order to protect forest eco-system and to meet the demand for wood. Fast-growing plantations will be relied upon as a key element in meeting future demand for wood. Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. (Narrow leaved ash-NLA) tree is the most important species for Turkey because of its fast growing ability and valuable wood. It is also used in parquet, sports tools, mine poles, and caique building. The exceptional property of ash is its bending ability and flexibility. NLA wood is known as non-resistant to fungi but there is no information about planted ash wood. For this reason, possible durability differences between planted and natural grown NLA wood was studied in this study.
Natural durability of fast growing NLA species, grown in plantation and natural stands was evaluated by soil-block decay test method according to ASTM D- 2017 -05. The ash trees were felled down from Adapazarı and Sinop regions and then test specimens were exposed to a brown rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum, two white rot fungi Pleurotus ostreatus and Coriolus versicolor for 12 weeks. The natural durability was determined by the weight loss percentage of the test blocks.
As a result, there is no significant different between plantation and natural grown NLA wood durability against brown and white rot fungi. Tests showed that P. ostreatus resulted in heigher weight loss than the other test fungi and there was no change on durability classes.
Keywords
Plantation,Natural durability,Narrow-leaved ash,Fast growing species
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