MEASURING MAXIMUM LATEWOOD DENSITY BY IMAGE-ANALYSIS AT THE CELLULAR-LEVEL

A study was conducted to compare the precision of X-ray densitometry ( XRD) and video image analysis (VIA) in measuring wood density of the l ast-formed latewood. The precision was determined by examining the con vergence of the replicated measurements of maximum latewood density (M AXD), by XRD, and maximum percentage of cell-wall area (MAX%), by VIA. VIA was a more precise method for determining density of the last-for med tracheids than XRD. The linear relationship between MAXD and MAX% was significant at P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01. The results indicate that MAX% can be used as an alternative to X-ray measurements of MAXD.