INTRATREE AND INTERTREE VARIATION IN SELECTED WOOD QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF EUROPEAN OAK (QUERCUS-PETRAEA AND QUERCUS-ROBUR)

Twenty-three trees of European oak (Quercus petraea (Matt) Liebl. and and Quercus robur L.) were collected from northeastern France to study intratree and intertree variation in the following characteristics: ( i) wood density as well as earlywood density and latewood density; (ii ) various types of wood shrinkage; and (iii) ring width and its compon ents. Both intratree variation and intertree variation in the three ch aracteristics are significant, but intertree variation is generally sm aller. However, the relative magnitude of intertree variation varies w ith characteristic: intertree variation accounts for about 40% of the total variation in radial, tangential, and volumetric wood shrinkage, 32.5% of the total variation in ring width, and 12.6% of the total var iation in wood density. Furthermore, the intertree variation is closel y and positively related to the intratree variation: among the three c haracteristics studied, both intertree variation and intratree variati on were highest for ring width and its components, and lowest for wood density and its components. In addition, intratree variation increase d remarkably with increasing tree age in these species. In general, in tratree variation in wood density and wood shrinkage depends more on c ambial age than on ring width. The present study, together with the in formation available so far, suggests that the quality of European oak wood could be significantly improved.