Exploitable results Silvicultural control and nondestructive assessment of timber quality in plantation grown spruces and Douglas fir The objectives of the project was mainly to assess the quality of the sawn timber products (average and distribution) coming from populations of trees for which the following usual measurements are available: total height; diameter at breast height; age. Three species were considered: Norway Spruce, Sitka Spruce and Douglas fir. Most complete results were achieved on Norway spruce. In this project, wood quality was mainly judged by the following criteria: position, size and type of knots, ring width, wood density and grain angle distribution in the plank. The project can be grouped into 3 distinct categories: establishing models which relate usual tree descriptors and internal structure of the corresponding trees; feeding an existing software (improved during and following the project) with such models, the simulation of various visual grading rules and wood density, and validation of the software; technological characteristics of products obtained from stands in which silvicultural treatment was known. Sampled trees total 300 from 40 stands. Twelve teams from eight countries were involved in the project (Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and United Kingdom). On the basis of the experience gained through the project, international cooperation is on the way, namely with New Zealand, Sweden and South Africa (public, semipublic and private sectors). Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
