|
CSIRO Media Release |
|||
| Mr Nick Goldie | (02) 6276-6478 | |||
| Mobile | (0417) 299-586 | |||
| Fax | (02) 6276-6821 | |||
|
|
||||
10 February 1999 |
Ref 99/29 |
|
|
The environment will benefit, and farmers can expect premium financial returns in 30 - 40 years from timber - if they choose the right species of tree.
Top quality 'appearance-grade' timber has been produced from plantations in low rainfall areas of the Murray Darling Basin, according to researcher Russell Washusen. Some species produced more than twice as much as the industry standard species.
"The best performer was spotted gum, followed closely by sugar gum, with red ironbark also showing promise," says Mr Washusen, of CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products. "We were surprised at the poor performance of the famous blue gum, which produced knotty timber which dried poorly."
Mr Washusen and his team surveyed 43 plantations in an area between Yass (NSW) and central Victoria, with a rainfall of 580 - 750 mm, to see which species were growing best. All the sites were unmanaged plantations, and included roadside and farm plantings and trees grown for amenity purposes in towns.
Sample trees were sawn, dried and assessed.
The researchers chose the four best out of a total of about 15 species for further study - spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata), sugar gum (E. cladocalyx), red ironbark (E. sideroxylon) and blue gum (E. globulus).
The blue gums tested were only 15 years old compared with 26-40 years for the other species, leaving some uncertainty in the findings. Nevertheless, Mr Washusen suspects growers of blue gums will have to prune trees to reduce knots in the timber. Further research is required to reduce the problems associated with drying.
The sawn timber was compared with that from 60-80 year-old mountain ash (E. regnans) regrowth - the benchmark for the study.
"Spotted gum produced more than twice the quantity of
high quality appearance grade timber than the industry benchmark,
with very little degradation during drying. Sugar gum wasn't
far behind. These are astonishing results", said Mr Washusen.
"It's important to note that these results were obtained
from unmanaged plantations," says Mr Washusen. "If
trees show good form and growth under these conditions, they
certainly will be good plantation trees if managed," he
says.
Both spotted gum and sugar gum are sensitive to frost and researchers are screening tree seed resources for better frost tolerance.
The researchers plan to extend the study to areas with rainfalls down to 400 mm. They will again survey existing plantations and select the four most promising species for detailed assessment.
The study was supported by the Forest and Wood Products R&D Corporation and the Rural Industries R&D Corporation
More information from:
Russell Washusen 0418 390 017
Mick Crowe 02-6281 8357
0419 696 184
Mick.Crowe@ffp.csiro.au
(Australia's largest scientific research organisation)
Media Releases: [All] [1999] [Topics] [Search]
[CSIRO Search] [What's New] [Help] [Newsline] [CSIRO Home Page]
©Copyright 1999, CSIRO Australia
Use of this web site and information available from it is subject to our
Legal Notice and Disclaimer