TRENDS ON EUCALYPTUS WOOD DENSITY IN SITES WITH DIFFERENT WATER AVAILABILITY

In this study we present the trends in wood basic density response from six different eucalyptus genotypes (Eucalyptus globulus (EG), E. nitens × globulus (ENG), E. nitens (EN), E. camaldulensis × globulus (ECG), E. badjensis (EB) and E. smithii (ES)) growing under contrasting water availability. This study was based on an field experiment that considered two forest sites with contrasting water availability conditions, with water irrigation and water irrigation exclusion, in south-central Chile, in Bio-Bio region. The wood basic density was measured indirectly by a non-destructive technique (drill-resistograph PD-400 IML model) and compared with laboratory methods based on the ratio between the dry weight of wood divided by the green volume of the same wood (SCAN-CM 43-95). The tool assesses the drilling resistance when a needle is driven into a tree at a constant speed. the power consumption of the drilling device is measured electronically and a bark-to-bark amplitude profile at drilling depth is produced, showing the density variation of earlywood and latewood. EUCAHYDRO project, which investigates the sensitivity of different eucalyptus genotypes to environmental stresses, and their productivity responses in different water availability associated to new climate change scenarios, provided the data for this study.