A Comparative Study on the Chemical Composition of the Oriental Spruce Woods Picea orientalis from Planted and Natural Forests.

The main constituents and cyclohexane extractives of wood obtained from planted and native oriental spruce, P. orientalis, were comparatively investigated. The plantation stand in Belgrad Forest near the city Istanbul is about 1000 km west to the original provenance in northeast Turkey with somewhat different environmental factors. The distribution of the main components and the total extractive contents in the woods were affected insignificantly. Only few differences were notable in the amount of sugar monomers of the main polyoses, mannan and xylan, when the native and planted woods were subject to total hydrolyses. The yield of lipophilic extractives in native and planted woods was almost the same. The composition of lipophilic extractives of the woods, determined after proper derivatization by GC-MS, were also not different qualitatively, but some constituents exhibited quantitative changes. Although the planted wood contained significantly more resin acids, sterols, and alcohols, the natural samples had more unsaturated fatty acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]