Technical Contribution towards National Development: The Case of Suitability Assessment of Cedrela Odorata L. (Miliaceae) for pulp and paper making

Abstract

Paper in its varied forms is in no doubt one material evidentially proven to be critical in human life and also driving national developmental agenda of nations as they are used for human and environmental sanitation, education, security, communication, Secretaryship,customs and excise, mother care, health care among others. This research focused on assessing the suitability of a 7-year-old Cedrela odorata wood for pulp and paper making, as a technical contribution towards the agenda of continuous exploration of wood species for that purpose, by assessing its radial and axial variations in fibre dimensions and other derived technical requirements needed for wood to be used for paper production. Franklin’s maceration process was adopted for the study. Collected data was subjected to statistical analysis. Mean fibre length was found to be short as it was less than 1.6mm (1600 μm) with bottom sapwood exhibiting the longest (1132.57μm or 1.133mm ± 0.14931). Runkel ratio was highest in bottom sapwood (0.28 ± 0.10). The derived fibre values: runkel ratio (all of which were < 1.0) and coefficient of flexibility (all of which were > 75%) indicated that the 7-yearold Cedrela odorata hardwood in Ghana has good pulp and paper making potentials. Thus,
the 7-year fast grown Cedrela wood species was recommended to be considered among other known species for paper making in Ghana to enhance paper availability to drive national activities for development