TITLE:
Differences of Wood Elements of Prosopis laevigata from Two Areas of Northeast Mexico
AUTHORS:
Artemio Carrillo-Parra, Rahim Foroughbakhch-Pournavab, Verónica Bustamante-García, Sadoth Sandoval-Torres, Fortunato Garza-Ocañas, Sergio Moreno-Limón
KEYWORDS:
Wood Anatomy;Prosopis laevigata; Vessels; Fiber
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.5A,
May
30,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Anatomical
features of wood have a great variation among species as a result of genetic
and environmental factors. The anatomical heartwood characteristics of Prosopis laevigata species from two
areas with differences on temperature and rain precipitation on northeast
Mexico were compared. Fibers length (μm), diameter of vessels (μm), and the
area of the vessels (μm-2) were measured using light microscopy
coupled with a digitized-image analysis system. The differences were
statistically analyzed with analysis of variance. Statistical differences
between fibers length (p 0.0001) and diameter of the
vessels (p 0.001) from the two localities were
found. The locality Linares, Nuevo León, Mexico, with higher precipitation and
lower temperature, showed higher fiber length and higher diameter of the
vessels than China, Nuevo León. Hard environmental conditions, where low
precipitation values and high temperatures prevail, condition P. laevigata trees do reduce the risk of
losing water.