Leś. Pr. Bad., 2009, Vol. 70 (4): 373–381.

Wybrane elementy budowy makrostrukturalnej drewna a dojrzałość sosny zwyczajnej (Pinus sylvestris L.) wyrosłej w warunkach gruntów porolnych
Correlation between selected elements of wood macrostructure and maturity of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing on post-agricultural land

Arkadiusz Tomczak, Witold Pazdrowski, Tomasz Jelonek
Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy w Poznaniu, Katedra Użytkowania Lasu, ul. Wojska Polskiego 71A, 60–625 Poznań; Fax +48 61 848 77 55; e-mail: arkadiusz.tomczak@up.poznan.pl
Abstract. The study was an attempt of comparing quantitative changes over time in selected wood macrostructural elements of Scots pines growing on former farmland, with those in trees growing on typical forest soils. The analysis was conducted on the basis of easily-determinable quality indexes taking into consideration average width of annual rings and the proportion of latewood in 5-year increment periods, the proportion of juvenile wood (Vm) and the proportion of heartwood (Vt). The study also compared selected biometric characteristics of trees, i.e. height (h), diameter at breast height (d), length (lk) and width (dk) of live crown; total stem volume (Vc) and determined a total of 48 model trees from 16 sample stands in age classes II, III, IV, V and higher. The radial dynamics of changes in annual ring widths was higher in trees from former farmland. In contrast, the proportion of latewood was similar in trees in all age classes and in trees growing on both soil types. In three out of four age classes analyzed in this study, the proportion of juvenile wood was higher in trees growing on typical forest soils, while the proportion of heartwood was higher in trees from former farmland. Taking into consideration the above observations it may be assumed that the Scots pine trees growing on former farmland reached technical maturity faster. However, this conclusion needs to be verified on a larger sample of model trees.

Key words: tree-ring width, latewood proportion, juvenile wood, heartwood.