Relationships between moisture content and flammability of campestral Cerrado species in Jalapão

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the relationships between moisture content and the flammability of campestral Cerrado species in the Jalapão region. For that, six species were collected (Trachypogon spicatus, Aristida sp., Davilla elliptica, Byrsonima verbascifolia, Hirtella ciliata and Dalbergia miscolobium) and analyzed in four moisture levels (H1, H2, H3 and H4). The tests were performed in the epirradiator, with 50 replicates of 1 g sample for each species, to obtain the ignition frequency (IF), the mean time to ignition (MTI), the time of combustion (MTC) and flame height (MFH). Correlations between moisture and other variables were r = 0.94 (MTI), r = -0.43 (MTC), r = -0.87 (MFH) and r = -0.73 (IF). The linear regression equations had R²aj values of 0.87 (MTI); 0.15 (MTC); 0.74 (MFH) and 0.50 (IF). There was influence of humidity in the change of flammability variables, however, there was little variation in the flammability values (FV), except for the species Aristida sp., and Dalbergia miscolobium, showing the high flammability of most species, even at the highest levels of moisture content.