A Study of Fiber Saturation Point (FSP) Variations in Iranian Beech by "Porous Pressure Plate" Method

Variations in fiber saturation point (FSP) along the longitudinal axis and through the cardinal directions, in beech tree (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) were investigated. Specimens, from two sound beech trees cut from Veisar forest (Caspian natural hardwood forest in Iran) were prepared. Then, 4 disks from different intervals in each tree trunk were taken. The experiments were performed on the specimens taken systematically from the four geographical directions in each disk. To determine the FSP of never–dried specimens, "porous pressure plate" method was employed. Then, the values obtained were statistically analyzed. The results indicate that FSP variations through the longitudinal axis do not follow a regular pattern and that they are not significantly different. Nevertheless, it was observed that the first height (at 215 cm) carries a minimum value (27.1%) while the third height (i.e., at 555 cm) a maximum (31.0 %). FSP variations (in the four directions) in the beech tree do not seem to be significantly different. The highest and the lowest values were found to be respectively present on the eastern and western sides of the trees