The ontogeny of vascular cambium and the wood formation in the 8 month-old Pinus radiata have been examined. The results showed that the procambium develops from the subapical meristem parenchyma, which is converted to pro cambial cells by periclinal division about 0.5 mm from the shoot tip. The interfascicular cambium originates from the interfascicular parenchyma, which is also derived from the subapical meristem. Transverse sections show that the interfascicular parenchyma convert to interfascicular cambial cells requires activation by the fascicular cambium. The vascular cambium was established by the fascicular cambium connecting with the interfascicular cambium.
Compression wood formation is related to the plantlet's response to stress. The magnitude and distribution of compression wood is related to whether the stem is free-growing, staked vertically, or tied to an inclined stake, the three situations generating 27%, 14% and 49% compression wood as assessed by image analysis of thin sections.
Stiffness, density, tracheid length, cell numbers/mm2, and percent cell wall area were tested for plantlets of clones 8 and 31 grown under three treatments. Compared to the free grown plantlets, the angled plantlets were shorter, thinner, contained more compression wood with thicker cell walls and more cells/mm2, and had shorter denser tracheids to formed weaker wood. By contrast the tied plantlets were taller and thinner, having fewer cells/mm2 with each tracheid being longer and less dense (thinner cell walls), but of similar stiffness to the free grown ones. Compression wood was stiffer than opposite wood because of its higher density, and the angled plantlets were weaker than the free and tied plantlets due to their shorter tracheids. Stiffness is related to density in angled plantlets, and related to tracheid length in the free and tied plantlets. Tracheid length is negatively related to density, cells/mm2, and percent cell wall. Density is related to percent cell wall and cells/mm2, and the percent cell wall and cells/mm2 related each other.
Stiffness, microfibril angle, density, and maximum crushing strength have been studied for 1 and 2 year-old seedlings from seedlots 10 and 28. The results indicated that stiffness increased and microfibril angle decreased from one year-old to two year-old material. A relationship between maximum crushing strength and density and a negative relationship between stiffness and microfibril angle existed in two years old plantlets. Stiffness and maximum crushing strength related each other in both one and two years old plantlets.
Overall, this work proved to be a scoping trial. While the results could have been anticipated in general terms they do provide a useful description of very young wood. The extent of compression wood varied greatly between treatments, but even in the best case (tied) it takes up a significant proportion of the stem cross-section. However, the technical challenges, especially in the measurement of mechanical properties in such small samples remains a formidable challenge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:canterbury.ac.nz/oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/5927 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Li, Guizhen |
| Publisher | University of Canterbury. Plant and Microbial Sciences |
| Source Sets | University of Canterbury |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic thesis or dissertation, Text |
| Rights | Copyright Guizhen Li, http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml |
| Relation | NZCU |
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