Wood fiber variability in stems of Juglans regia L. From temperate climate of Kashmir Himalaya

Juglans regia L. is an important natural resource almost throughout the temperate regions of the world but relatively little is known about the within-tree variability of the anatomical characteristics of its wood. For this purpose three sites were selected and from each site three trees were felled and five discs were extracted from base up to merchantable top of the each tree, equally spaced along vertical direction. The wood anatomical features viz. fiber length, fiber diameter, fiber wall thickness, varied significantly from different positions of trees. Also the derived wood properties like Runkel ratio, Slenderness ratio, Luce's shape factor were evaluated from wood anatomical features as these parameters are directly related to industrial utility of wood. © 2013 Indian Academy of Wood Science.