Abstract

Three wood properties, viz. ring width, basic density and heartwood percentage, were studied at breast height in 102 trees sampled from four plots in an 8-year-old teak (Tectona grandis) plantation in Nilambur, Kerala. Heartwood proportion by volumewas only 30, which is less than half the value recorded for 51-52 yr old trees grown at the same geographic location. Mean basic density (582 kg/m3) was only about 5 lower than the average density reported for the 51-52 yr old trees. However, the density was about 6 greater than that recorded for 27-year-old teak grown in Nigeria. Faster growth was associated with a higher heartwood percentage while wood density was independent of growth rate