Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy - Abstract of Short communication. Success in using near infrared spectroscopy to estimate wood properties of Pinus taeda radial strips not due to autocorrelation

Short communication. Success in using near infrared spectroscopy to estimate wood properties of Pinus taeda radial strips not due to autocorrelation

Laurence R. Schimleck,^a,* P. David Jones,^a, Gary F. Peter,^b Richard F. Daniels^a and Alexander Clark, III^c
^aWarnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. E-mail: lschimleck@smokey.forestry.uga.edu
^bSchool of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
^cUSDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Athens, Georgia, USA

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy provides a rapid method for estimating several important wood properties of 10 mm sections of radial wooden strips. Successful calibrations have been obtained with NIR spectra collected from 3 to 16 consecutive 10 mm sections of the same wood core. The success of these calibrations might be due to an autocorrelation that exists between the adjacent sections of a core. In this study, we compared calibrations with spectra collected from consecutive 10 mm sections to calibrations obtained with spectra collected from unrelated 10 mm sections. Very similar calibration statistics were obtained with both sets of spectra, demonstrating that existing calibration success is not due to an autocorrelation.

Keywords: air-dry density, microfibril angle, near infrared spectroscopy, stiffness, Pinus taeda, SilviScan, tracheid morphological characteristics