USE OF DUMMY VARIABLES TO PREDICT GROWTH STRESSES IN Eucalyptus ssp. CLONES
ABSTRACT The evaluation of growth stresses in Eucalyptus trees and their influence on both morphological properties of trees and technological properties of wood have been aimed by several studies, which used indirect and nondestructive methods for these evaluations. The present study aimed to estimate growth stresses for woods from Eucalyptus ssp. clones trough some of their dendrometric properties, using Dummy variables. 12 hybrid Eucalyptus clones were evaluated by basic density (BD) and dendrometric properties: diameter at breast height (DBH), bark thickness (BT), height (H) and total volume (VOL). The growth stresses were indirectly evaluated by the longitudinal residual strain (LRS) following the CIRAD-Forêt method. 12 Dummy variables were defined based on the characteristics of each clone. After that, four models were proposed in order to estimate the LRD, using Dummy variables, DBH, H, VOL and BD as independent variables. Among the dendrometric properties, BD was discarded because it does not confer interesting aids to the LRD predict. Among the Dummy variables, clone 9 provided the most discrepant variable. The LRD of the clones were satisfactorily described by the mathematical models, although these values showed significant variability.