Exploitation and Performance on a Plantation Thinning of 32 Years Old Pochote in Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine the percentage of waste derived from phases of grates, drag, sawmill, as well as to calculate the yield of volume of the cubed roundwood, when compared to the amount of lumber obtained at the end of the process; this, as a result of the processing of 70 selected trees (of a total of 127 trees) cut for industrial use, during the fifth thinning, carried out in March 2010, in a 32 years old plantation of Pochote (Pachira quinata), in Dulce Nombre, Nicoya. The study included 150 logs of that species, with a roundwood volume of 23,32 m3 (average 0,1555 m3/log). The yield was estimated as the difference between the volume of roundwood and the resulting volume of the sawing process. Percentage yield determined in the phase of sawmill to this plantation was 50%. The commercial volume of roundwood, as an average per tree, was 0,3332 m3, while the commercial volume per tree, of finished products in the sawing process was 0,1665 m3. The percentage of waste of the volume of the stem, from the harvest to the preparation of the final product, after the sawing process was 63,62%; let say, there is a high level of waste of the wood produced in plantations of Pochote, which encourages us to find alternatives of use of the wasted wood that allow to decrease the percentage of wood not used.