Abstract:

The growth of 6-year-old sandal plantations in three sandal research bases of Guangdong Province, south China were investigated using a sample plot survey method, statistically differences were found among those three bases in terms of height, diameter at ground level(DGL), diameter at breast height(DBH), clear bole height(CBH) as well as crown(NS direction) width( P <0.001), the base located in Zhanjiang got the best growth performance for most morphological indices, including an mean height of 6.05 m, an mean DGL of 12.72 cm, an mean DBH of 10.27 cm, an mean CBH of 2.64 m and an mean crown of 3.20 m. The presences of heartwood were studied using an increment core, and the results show that 15%—20% of 6-year-old sandals have formed heartwood naturally. Essential oil was extracted from heartwood through a solvent extraction method, and the oil content ranges from 0.66% to 1.76%. Oil composition as well as relative content of each component was also determined through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS), the results indicate that the main components of essential oil were the same as the ISO standards for S. album oil, while the quality have not meet with the ISO standard due to the low content of santalols, total santalols range from 34.13% to 37.91%. Early growth and heartwood formation performance show that large scale sandal plantations grow well in Guangdong Province.

Key words: Santalum album, heartwood formation, essential oil composition, Guangdong Province