Can Durability of NZ Grown Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) be Predicted by NIR?
- In:
- DS Technical Reports
- Report No:
- DS049
- Report Date:
- April 5, 2013
- Author(s):
- D Cown
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) produces an attractive appearance-grade timber and is a durable material for both ground-based and above-ground situations. New Zealand-grown young redwood material has poorer and greater variability of durability than old growth United States wood.
The objective of this report is to evaluate progress towards the improvement in redwood durability aided by the use of NIR. This report contains both a summary of local and international literature, plus a critical analysis of recent redwood NIR studies.
New breeding stock can be used to enhance both growth rate and durability, but these breeding programmes are largely in their infancy. Due to the considerable time lag required to test trees for durability, new methods are being sought to give early indications of this trait. During the last two years a non-destructive near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy method has been tested for assessing the deterioration of samples, alongside standard laboratory tests.
- Document:
- DS049 (1.47 Mb)