From the Program Manager
Chris Harwood reviews recent program activity.
Project 2.5 'High-value wood products from sub-tropical
plantations' will use a new rotary veneering research facility in
Brisbane to efficiently study the wood quality of subtropical
species ...
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more]
Decisions, decisions, decisions ...
Across
the CRC, we are developing a range of decision support tools and
systems. Here we look at how Forestry Tasmania’s
silvicultural decision support system is being used, and how CRC
research could help to improve it ...
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more]
Molecular breeding to improve wood quality
Teams
at the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania are
using complementary research approaches that will help us identify
and exploit variation in the genes that affect pulpwood quality
...
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more]
Geographic variation in blackbutt
A recently completed,
range-wide study of genetic variation has revealed that there are
two geographic races in blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis)
...
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more]
Breeding shining gum for solid-wood products
Recent
research shows that internal checking, an important value-limiting
defect of plantation-grown shining gum, is under genetic control
and could be improved by breeding ...
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more]
Improving sawing and drying of plantation-grown shining gum
The CRC’s second
major sawing trial of plantation-grown shining gum used a linear
sawing system and carefully controlled drying schedules. Higher
recovery rates of sawn boards were achieved, while surface checking
was virtually eliminated, and internal checking reduced in the sawn
boards ... [read more]
Effects of spacing on growth of blue gum
A CRC
technical report by Tom Baker and co-authors examines how stocking
in blue gum pulpwood plantations affect growth, tree diameter
distribution at harvest, recovery of marketable pulpwood,
harvesting cost and financial returns ...
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more]
NIR provides new insights into wood quality
Geoff Downes and
his team in Project 2.4 have developed near infra-red (NIR)
calibrations to predict radial trends in cellulose content and pulp
yield of thousands of trees by scanning NIR spectra of radial wood
samples such as increment cores. This will provide information on
pulpwood and sawlog value, at low cost ...
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more]
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