Assessment of tapping performance on Some pine species in Tunisia

Context

In order to create employment and new job opportunities in rural and marginal areas, the present work was aiming to develop knowledge and best practices of resin extraction technic. Therefore, the identification of the best yield performances in some pine species would contribute to provide an additional value essentially to the natural Tunisian forests.

Objective

The main objective of the present investigation is to explore the knowledge and the best practices of resin extraction technics in rural areas and marginal environment in order to promote the live condition of the population in these different regions by providing secure incomes and good working conditions. This could lead to the best evaluation of the good performance of the three most important pine species in North-western of Tunisia to resin extraction.

Results

In the harvest period, the treatment of yield with the acid solution has revealed an increase in the flow of resin. the average yield in the three species of Maritime pine, Aleppo pine, and stone pine were about 271.83, 168, and 118.33 ml respectively.  The yield of the distillation of pine species has shown that the best yield of turpentine was obtained with samples of the stone pine (4.3%) followed by those of Maritime pine (3.66%) and Aleppo pine (3.5%). Furthermore, the best resin yield was also obtained with the samples of maritime pine (71%) followed by Aleppo pine (69%) and Gable pine (64%). In addition, the southern exposure of the three pine species studied could be responsible for the largest value on the process of resin extraction.

Recommendations

The activated tapping method with acid spraying could contribute to the harvesting of the highest yield of maritime pine resin. On the other hand, the acid-free tapping method represents the lowest yield. In fact, the activated sulfuric acid tapping was a far higher yield than that obtained by the traditional process (Dahmane, 1986). Similarly, it appears that the resin content was mainly depending on the nature of the species studied and the exposure direction of these different species studied. This exposure direction could define the important rate of resin which was correlated to the rate of light perceived by the different species.

Impacts and weaknesses

The yield of turpentine was dependent essentially on the species studied (Aleppo Pine,  Maritime Pine, and Stone Pine) which could provide low or huge values. These results could be largely explained by the evaporation of the product and the lack of necessary equipment for the distillation process of the resin. In addition, the employed equipment during the harvest should be adapted to the Tunisian forest.

Future developments

Resin extraction has a great interest in the development of pine forests by the prospects of production supply and by the jobs that could provide. The Organisation of some technical demonstration on the topic by some expert, open days with farmers can improve the knowledge of resin extraction and promote networking opportunities between farmer and the industry