This is the first report of post-harvest wood staining in blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon R. Br). In Tasmanian sawmills, an orange-brown stain commonly occurs upon cutting fresh blackwood. An investigation of the causal mechanism of stain development was completed using fresh flitches and stockpiled logs. Some fungi and bacteria were isolated from stained and unstained blackwood, but no species was consistently present in stained wood alone. Wood pH did not vary between stained and unstained wood, but there was some evidence of alterations in phenol composition. Blackwood extracts were analysed by HPLC and a minor phenolic compound was detected that was consistently found in stained samples and rarely in unstained. UV spectra indicated that this compound may be a quinone, but mass spectrometry data was inconclusive. Experiments with blackwood extracts showed that addition of oxygen (by means of H2O2 treatment) increased absorbance in the "brown" wavelengths characteristic of stain. This supports the assumption that the stain is an oxidative chemical stain, as it develops quite rapidly from cut surfaces.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Research Group:	Forestry Sciences
Research Field:	Forestry Sciences not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Plant Production and Plant Primary Products
Objective Group:	Other Plant Production and Plant Primary Products
Objective Field:	Plant Production and Plant Primary Products not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Barry, KM (Associate Professor Karen Barry)
UTAS Author:	Davies, NW (Associate Professor Noel Davies)
UTAS Author:	Mohammed, CL (Professor Caroline Mohammed)
ID Code:	23719
Year Published:	2003
Web of Science® Times Cited:	2
Deposited By:	Agricultural Science
Deposited On:	2003-08-01
Last Modified:	2012-08-08
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