Use of pilodyn for rapid and reliable estimation of wood basic density in clones of casuarina equisetifolia

Pilodyns have been successfully used for indirect estimation of wood density in tree breeding programmes of many softwoods and hardwoods. However no reports are available on its use in clones of Casuarina equisetifolia. Fifty nine landrace clones of C. equisetifolia were subjected to Pilodyn penetration and direct wood basic density estimation at four years of age in India. Strong negative correlation was observed between Pilodyn penetration and wood basic density (-0.847). As Pilodyn observations were completed in one day, it took 8 days for the direct estimation of wood density. Mean Pilodyn readings between 4.83 and 4.05 mm; 5.45 and 5.05 mm and 8.83 and 5.65 mm indicated high density wood (0.80 to 0.86 g/cm3), medium density wood (0.70 to 0.79 g/cm3) and low density wood (0.46 to 0.69 g/cm3) respectively in general. Though significant positive correlation was observed between Pilodyn penetration and moisture content, its magnitude was low (0.219). The broad sense heritability values for Pilodyn penetration and the wood basic density were moderate, 0.35 and 0.46 respectively.