Abstract

The shrinkage behaviour of Bambusa bambos (syn. B. arundinacea) and Dendrocalamus strictus from green to air-dry condition was studied, using samples from the base of mature (3-5 yr old) culms, collected from sites in Kerala. Some 80-94 of the total shrinkage possible took place during drying from the green to the air-dry condition, with shrinking starting in the green condition at moisture contents of 100-150. This finding is in contrast to earlier studies, which gave similar results to those obtained with wood, which only starts shrinking below the fibre saturation point. In this study there was a highly linear relationship observed between moisture content and shrinkage (correlation coefficient 0. 91-0. 99) . Why bamboo shrinks at such high moisture levels needs investigation