Wood quality of Khaya senegalensis trees from a multi-stratified agroforestry system established in an open ombrophilous forest zone

ABSTRACT

The African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) in homogenous plantations and natural forests is widely studied, but there is a lack of information on wood from trees grown in agroforestry systems (AFSs). The objective of this work was to evaluate the wood quality of African mahogany produced in AFS. The wood was obtained from a multi-stratified AFS located in the State of Rondônia, Brazil. The contents of holocellulose (67.2%) and lignin (25.8%) of mahogany wood are comparable to those found in other tropical woods from the Amazon with high natural durability. The results found for the densities presented low variation, allowing to classify the African mahogany wood as of medium density (basic density around 520 kg m⁻³) and high dimensional stability (ie, anisotropy coefficient <1.3%). The results obtained for parallel-to-grain compression strength (26.5 MPa), static bending strength (56.0 MPa), shear strength (10.4 MPa), and Janka hardness parallel to the grain (3420.0 N), indicate that the mechanical performance was similar to wood from other African and South American mahogany species from monocultures and natural forests. Experimental results indicated that the wood produced in the AFS can be suitable for furniture, musical instruments, applications in external structures, residential floors, and vehicle bodies.

KEYWORDS:

• Agroforestry
• African mahogany
• timbering
• wood quality
• wood strength

Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to the Executive Commission for the Cocoa Crop Plan (CEPLAC) for financial support and for providing the study material and infrastructure. We also thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for financial support and research grants and to Federal University of Rondônia and Federal University of Mato Grosso for providing infrastructure and technical personnel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico.