Descripción de las propiedades físico - químico de la madera de cuatro especies forestales procedentes del cantón Guano, provincia de Chimborazo.

Abstract

The research work described the physical and chemical properties of four forest species from Guano town, Chimborazo Province in order to evaluate certain forest individuals that serve for conservation and subsequent industrialization. Dendrological identification was based on the herbarium collection (CHEP). Regarding the anatomical characteristics of the wood, cuts were made according to COPANT (1972) standards. Once the cuts were obtained, the wood was softened in an autoclave at a temperature of 128ºC and a pressure of 0.15 MPa, in cycles of 20 minutes and depending on the hardness of the wood. Histological sections of 0.3 microns were made in the three incisions (tangential, radial, and transversal), for subsequent staining in Safranin, Astra Blue, and their combination. Finally, they were mounted on the plates with their labeling. As for the organoleptic characteristics, the senses were used. To obtain the hydrogen potential (pH), sawdust was used, which weighed 20 grams and was mixed with distilled water, until it was homogeneous, and the pH was measured. The density of the 2cm3 cubes was weighed, and their volume was determined. While the results that the study showed are that all the species are from different families. In addition, it is found that most of them had solitary pores, radial multiples of two, and three, and in the case of two species they exceeded eight, for the pH, all woods are considered acidic, and for air-dry density, they are classified as medium and high. It was concluded that the wood contains tannins, and while the species is long-lived, the concentration of this is greater, for which it is proposed that studies be carried out in other different species to demonstrate this theory.