Delimitation of juvenile and mature woods of pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (sénécl.) w.h.barrett & golfari as a function of the length of the tracheids

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to identify and characterize the transition region between juvenile and mature wood of Pinus caribeae var. hondurensis with 40 years of age, with diameter class around 30-35 cm, from the plantations of the Fazenda Vale do Rio Grande located at the municipality of Catalão, state of Goiás, Brazil. The regions of juvenile and mature wood were characterized by anatomical studies - length of axial tracheids using discs obtained at the DAP trees, following the recommendations of the International Association of Wood Anatomists. The tracheids lengths were obtained from a diagnosis and image analysis equipment. A total of five slides were prepared for every 5 mm in the radial direction, and the lengths of six tracheids were measured per slide. The juvenile wood region is defined from the pith to the first 50mm radius, whereas the mature zone comprises from 80 mm to the bark, corresponding from the 9th to 17th growth rings, respectively. There was an increasing pattern of tracheids length variation from the pith, followed by a region with stabilization of the value and, finally, a slight increase.