Influence of Compression Stresses on Timber Potentials of Plantation Grown Eucalyptus camaldulensis Denhn in North-Western Nigeria

Abstract

A study was conducted on the influence of compression stresses on timber potentials of plantation grown E. camaldulensis (Denhn) in North-western Nigeria, with a view to finding an alternative to the over exploited rainforest species. Five 20 year old trees each from Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states were selected and felled for the study. These were cut into top, middle and bottom regions. A total of 225 samples were cut for laboratory
analysis according to BS881:74 standard procedures. Laboratory analysis was carried out at Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Ibadan, using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). ANOVA was used to analyze the data and mean separation was done using Duncanfs New Multiple Range Test. Results of the study revealed overall mean compression stress values of 51.85 N/mm2 and 5.00 N/mm2 parallel (//g) and perpendicular („¨g) to grain respectively. ANOVA showed that differences between means in compression stress perpendicular to grain were highly significant while region/location interaction also revealed significant differences. Similarly, location/region and tree/region interactions were highly significant. It is recommended that E. camaldulensis be added in to the list of exploitable species in North-western Nigeria as it provides suitable alternative to species hitherto exploited and that further research should be carried out on wood in service to study the peculiarities of timber behaviour under actual service conditions.

Keywords: Compression, stress, timber, parallel, perpendicular, grain and plantation