Résumé
Growth characteristics, namely length and successive annual ring width for each annual growth unit (portion of the stem elongated each year), were measured on 12 trees (6 Aleppo pines and 6 Brutia pines) in a provenance trial. Occurrence of compression wood was also measured for each annual growth unit, ring by ring. In both species, height and diameter growth were slow during the first 10 years but three times faster in the following period. Around 1800 small wood blocks described by their growth position (annual growth unit and mean cambial age) were used to measure colour parameters (in the CIE LAB system), basic density and total shrinkage in the radial (R), tangential (T) and longitudinal (L) directions. A combination of shrinkage and density parameters was used to separate normal wood specimens from those containing compression wood and the difference between normal and severe compression wood specimen was therefore obtained. Statistical analysis prove a significant tree effect for all properties. Moreover, cambial age and growth unit age can be used to predict variations of physical properties inside a tree. A very significant correlation was found between basic density and shrinkage (in the R and T direction) for normal wood and basic density can be use to enhance the predictive models based on cambial and growth unit ages. (Texte intégral)