TITLE:
Impact of Heart Rot of Pericopsis elata (Harms) Van Meeuwen on Yield at Harvest in Production Forests in South-Eastern Cameroon
AUTHORS:
René Samuel Gweth Likaa, Godswill Ntsomboh-Ntsefong, Fridolin Choula, Nnanga M. Ruth Laure, François Essouma Manga, Jean-Lagarde Betti, Alain Dongmo, Ndongo Din
KEYWORDS:
Pericopsis elata, Minimum Operating Diameter, Heart Rot, Stump, Material Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.11 No.3,
July
23,
2021
ABSTRACT: This study of the impact of heart rot of Pericopsis elata on logging yield was conducted in Libongo, in
three logging concessions of the Société
d'Exploitation Forestière et Agricole du Cameroun (SEFAC). An inventory of
92 P. elata stumps in four Annual Cutting
Areas (AACs) divided among three Forest Management Units (FMUs) distinguished
by Minimum Operating Diameter (MOD) revealed
that 22 stumps were rotten. Decay was visible on stumps with a diameter
of more than 100 cm with a frequency of occurrence of 23.91%, a percentage of
abandonment of 55.20% and a yield of 44.79%. The most important economic loss
was revealed on 9 abandoned whole logs that cumulated a volume of 145.547 m3. The correlation between the
diameter of the stumps and that of the decay gives a coefficient or
correlation rate r = 0.31. The MOD for P.
elata could be 80 cm and covers the biological risk class. The results
indicate that P. elata shows an
increasing gradient of decay rate with increasing tree diameter, resulting in a
loss of material for larger diameter trees, and consequently a decrease in
material yield at processing.