Heartwood, Sapwood and Bark Proportions in Five Lesser Used Tropical Hardwood Species Growing in Nigeria.

Abstract

The increasing scarcity of commonly used wood species has necessitated the use of lesser used wood species at industrial scale.  However, for this to be possible, it is important that the properties if the lesser used wood species be investigated to elucidate their utilization potentials. The heartwood, sapwood and bark proportions of Butyrospermum paradoxum, Albizia zygia, Lanea acida, Parkia felicoida and Isoberlina doka were investigated.  The proportions of heartwood, sapwood and bark proportions in B. paradoxum were 30.52%, 56.32% and 13.6% respectively.  The proportions in A. zygia were 49.19%, 40.04% and 10.77% and in I. doka was 26.40%, 62.8 and 10.80% respectively. L. acida and P. felicoida doesn’t have apparent heartwood.  The proportions of sapwood and bark in the two species were 88.94% and 11.06% in L. acida and 92.18 and 7.82% in P. felicoida. A. zygia with the highest percentage of heartwood will be more durable in service, followed by P. paradoxum and I. doka. The deployment of L. acida and P. felicoida to service will require extensive preservative treatment using the full cell process, most especially, in situations where they will be in contact with the ground.

Keywords: sapwood, heartwood, bark, extractives, wood preservation