Author(s):
Pico, Filipa Cardoso Morais de Almeida 
Date: 2011
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/4160
Origin: Repositório da UTL
Subject(s): Pinus pinaster; maritime pine; sawn wood; pinewood nematode; pine wilt disease; elasticity in bending
Description
Mestrado em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Naturais - Instituto Superior de Agronomia The goal of this work was to study the effect of pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus
xylophilus, in the mechanical properties of maritime pine wood, Pinus pinaster, assessed by the
modulus of elasticity in bending (MOE) and wood density in boards of sound wood, naturally infected
wood and artificially inoculated wood. Each treatment was characterized regarding PWN degree of
infection, considering its number per unit of dry weight, studied for a period of three months of
infection evolution.
The average of PWN in the 15 studied boards of infected wood was, in sapwood,
49,45±57,99 MNP/g dw, with no PWN detected at heartwood. Sound wood inoculation was not very
successful, as only 33 % of the number of boards was actually infected, with a μ ± sd of
7,91±14,85 MNP/g dw.
There were significant differences between the density of the sound or inoculated woods,
0,54 g/cm3, and the infected wood, 0,63 g/cm3. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found
between the average MOE of sound wood, 7 100 MPa, and infected wood, 7 451 MPa, nor between
the ones of sound or inoculated, 6 825 MPa.
Therefore, there is no evidence, that the infection with PWN affects the MOE of maritime pine wood
