Technical assessment of girdling and incorporation of chainsaw in Eucalyptus grandis trees aiming to greater quality production of lumber.

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate two intervention techniques in a stand of Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden, by prolonged girdling treatments and chainsaw sword insertion to the core of tree, in two distinct periods, 70 and 100 days. These interventions aimed to minimize defects caused by the release of growth stress of Eucalyptus grandis during the sawing of logs. In order to that, we cut down 25 trees in a 20 years old plantation of Eucalyptus grandis , we used 5 trees for each assessed treatment. As parameter of comparison, we quantified the number of boards that had cracks in the end, the crack index (IRT%) of boards and the yield of lumber (R%). The evaluated techniques revealed statistical differences by Tukey test, with a reduction of up to 67.40% of boards that had end cracks. The yield was satisfactory for trees that had interventions, providing less loss of wood due to heading, mainly for chainsaw insertion technique to the core of trees, with total cutting after 100 days.