Specific Gravity, Fiber Length and Chemical Components of Conocarpus Erectus as Affected by Tree Spacing

Conocarpus erectus L. is a fast growing tree, drought resistant and it is widely planted throughout Saudi Arabia around parking lots and along the streets. It constitutes a renewable resource that could be used as a source of raw materials required for several uses. However, no data were available about its wood quality. This study was established to investigate the effect of plant spacing on some wood quality parameters of buttonwood i.e., specific gravity, fiber length and chemical components. In May 2003 the seedlings were planted at three different spacing of 0.7, 1.4 and 2.1 meter either between rows or between seedlings within row. After 3 years, trees were harvested and the chemical analysis of wood was determined. The results of the present study indicate that the variation of extractives, hemicellulose, lignin and ash contents among the plantation density levels were highly significant. Variation of cellulose content was not significant. The effect of spacing levels on specific gravity and fiber length was small, but significant. By increasing spacing from 0.7 to 2.1 m, specific gravity of Conocarpus was increased (0.63 to 0.66, respectively). Among the three spacing levels, no trend was obtained for fiber length. In general, this study recommended that wide space resulted in higher lignin content and the utilization of wood is recommended for furniture industry, however, narrow space yielded greater hemicellulose and ash contents and the produced wood is preferred for ethanol production as a biofuel.