STUDIES ON HARDNESS PROPERTY OF NEEM WOOD GROWING IN NIGERIA

Michael AKPAN
Senior Lecturer, Dr. - Federal University of Technology, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management Address: P.M.B. 2076, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria
E mail: michaelakpn@yahoo.com

Abstract: This study determines the radial and tangential hardness of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) wood for utilisation as structural timber. Three study locations were randomly selected from defined vegetation zones of north eastern Nigeria for the study. These are Maiduguri, in Sahel savanna; Yola, in Sudan savanna; and Bauchi, in Guinea savanna. From each of the study locations, 15 matured tree samples of neem were randomly selected, from which a total of 135 wood specimens were prepared for the experiments, using standard methods of testing clear-wood specimens. The test-data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics, in order to test for the level of significance of the radial and tangential hardness between the sampled trees, their sections, and vegetation zones. Results showed that at mean moisture content of 18%, the neem tree has average radial hardness of 54.80MPa, and average tangential hardness of 68.49MPa. The ANOVA showed highly significant differences of the parameters between the trees, their sections, and vegetation zones at 1% level of probability. Neem hardness compared favourably with local wood species used for structural timber in Nigeria. Therefore neem wood could be suitable for structural use.

Key words: radial hardness, tangential hardness, Neem wood, moisture content, structural timber, vegetation zones.

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