Browsing by Subject "reaktiopuu"

The study is part of Future Biorefinery, the second research program of Forestcluster Ltd. The goal of the program is to find innovative ways to better utilize the raw materials of the forest industry. The aim of the study is to investigate the structure and characters of stump- and rootwood of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). The aim is to find out if there is any reaction wood in the roots of Scots pine and Norway spruce and what is the proportion of the acetone soluble extractives in the stump- and root wood. The study material consisted of five stems of Scots pine and Norway spruce of various age. Root and stump samples of Scots pine and Norway spruce were collected after cutting the timber from a peatland site in Parkano (62.017°N, 23.017°E), Western Finland. Cutting was done by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla). The samples were taken from the underground parts of roots a three different distances from the root collar. The study was executed as descriptive research. Neither of the species showed traces of actual reaction wood, but some samples showed traces of mild reaction wood. The mild form of reaction wood was more common in the pine roots than in the spruce roots and it did not appear in the samples that were taken from the thinnest parts of roots, i.e. the roots with ca. 2 cm diameter. The acetone soluble extractive content was higher in the pine stumps than in the spruce stumps. In the pine roots the extractives per cent increased towards the root tips. On the spruce roots the extractives per cent decreased at first and then increased near the root tips. The extractives per cent of the bark was higher than of the wood and that applied for both species. Becouse the sample set was rather limited there was no attempt to make any statistic analysis of the data. There is a need for further studies concerning properties of roots and stumps from peatlands. The supply of wood from peatlands is increasing in the future in Finland while the studies on wood properties and extractives of roots have been focused in the mineral soils.