Abstract The lignocellulosic materials are promising feedstock to produce biofuels and bioproducts in the biorefinery framework. However, a pretreatment step is required disrupt lignin-carbohydrate complex. In this work, fractionation of Pinus radiata wood into its main components, cellulose-rich delignified solid, recovered lignin after precipitation, soluble-in-black liquor hemicellulose, was...

Particleboard and solid wood stakes were treated with either an isocyanate or phenol formaldehyde resin and exposed in soil beds comprising three different soil types and two moisture contents. The treatments resulted in a marked improvement in the dimensional stability of particleboard but had no effect on solid wood. Higher moisture uptakes in stakes exposed in sandy soils indicated that the ...

Although herbaceous species generally show little within plant variation in δ13C, trees show large spatial and temporal differences. We found that the aspect of exposure and branch length accounted for up to 6‰ δ13C difference within the foliage of individual trees of Pinus radiata D. Don. The foliage on branches 0.5 m in length was as much as 4‰ more depleted in 13C than foliage on 10-m long b...

Studies of the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants and their associated microbes have long been focused on single microbes, or single microbial guilds, but in reality, plants associate with a diverse array of microbes from a varied set of guilds. As such, multitrophic interactions among plant-associated microbes from multiple guilds represent an area of developing research,...

Dothistroma septosporum is a haploid fungal pathogen that causes a serious needle blight disease of pines, particularly as an invasive alien species on Pinus radiata in the Southern Hemisphere. During the course of the last two decades, the pathogen has also incited unexpected epidemics on native and non-native pine hosts in the Northern Hemisphere. Although the biology and ecology of the patho...

An existing model of light and water use by crops (RESCAP) was adapted and evaluated for trees. In the model, growth on any given day is determined either by the amount of intercepted radiation (by means of the light utilization coefficient, epsilon) or by the maximum rate of water extraction by roots (a function of root biomass and soil water content). In either case, transpiration and growth ...

Cow dung slurry containing a total of 7.4 10 5 E. coli was applied to laboratory-scale microcosms of Pinus radiata sawdust or bark. Rainfall was simulated by application of water at rates of 25 mm h -1 or 50 mm h -1 over 30 minutes. For sawdust 5% and 11% (respectively) of the E. coli were transferred to drainage compared to 12% and 28% for bark. After collection of drainage less than 10% of th...