Crown-quality Assessment And The Relative Economic Importance Of Growth And Crown Characters In Mature Loblolly Pine

The size and number of knots in 2.6-meter loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) veneer bolts was significantly negatively related to the dollar value of veneer from those bolts in a multiple-regression model which also included bolt size, taper and sweep. However, when this model was used to predict whole-tree dollar value, the impact of quality-related improvements in stem knottiness on dollar value of a tree was insignificant in comparison to the impact of tree size. Individual branching traits and combinations of branching traits could be measured more repeatably on standing trees than could a subjective crown-score, but crown and branch traits, like stem knot traits, were either unimportant to tree value or were important only as a function of their relationships to tree size. Increasing the relative value of high-grade veneer shifted the regression coefficients for the crown and branch traits in a direction suggesting a greater influence of stem quality on tree value. The relative importance of crown and branch traits to tree dollar value for other product outcomes should be evaluated, and economic and genetic information combined in a multi-trait index, before the final decision is made to include or discard such traits in future rounds of selection.

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Author(s): Cheryl L. Busby

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1983