Influence of prior land use on wood quality of Pinus radiata in New South Wales, Australia

Wood quality data from 33 sites aged between 15 and 18 years old were analysed to determine the effect of prior land use (pasture, cleared grazing land or timber) on wood density, wood stiffness, fibre length and kraft pulp yield. Sampling sites covered 6 different forest areas within the estate. Prior land use (PLU) significantly affected wood stiffness, density and fibre length but not the kraft pulping traits. In contrast, differences were found between different forest areas for the kraft pulping traits plus fibre length but not for stiffness or density. Pasture sites produced larger trees with bigger branches and slightly lower stiffness and density and shorter fibres. Cleared sites were similar to pasture whilst the timber sites were distinctly different. Density of each log up the tree was lower on pasture sites. However, the correlation between the breast height outer-wood density and the whole tree average density was high and similar for all the 3 land uses. Timber sites showed strong correlations between log acoustic velocity and each of the wood properties and also a very strong correlation between acoustic velocity and adjusted pulp yield.