Preliminary Study on the Suitable Method for Formation of Aloeswood in Kritsana Tree

Abstract

Preliminary study on the suitable method using mechanical injury for the formation of highland Agricultural Experiment Station, Phurua, Loei province (950 m asl, 17๐ 17’N 101๐24’E) was carried out during February, 2001-February, 2002. The changes of wood around injury wound spot were mainly observed. One month after wounding, the pale discoloration was occurred, followed with darker yellowish brown discoloration after 3 months, and changing to dark brown with 8-10 months with odor by burning. Wood blocks collected from living trees, 10 months after wounding were compared among the different mechanical treatments. Results showed that holed with screws, inflicted with chisel, barked with hatchet on the trunk gave dark yellowish brown to dark brown discoloration near injury (5-10 mm from the cut end), while beated with nails gave dark brown to black occurring by the interaction between ferric oxide and fibers, whereas beated with hammer gave only little discoloration. The width of the discoloration could be found that holed with screws (1.27 cm) and inflicted with wide chisel had the widest discoloration (0.75 and 0.722 mm). while inflicted with narrow chisel and holed with screws (1.11 cm) had the width of 0.76 and 0.700 mm respectively; whereas beated with nails (2.54 cm long) and beated with hammer had the narrowest (0.519 and 0.500 nn) at p≤0.05. Results revealed that the mechanical injury could be used for the formation of aloeswood in Kritsana tree.
Key: Kritsana tree, Aquilaria crassna, agarwood, aloeswood, oleoresin deposit