Natural durability within a timber species can be variable. Hence efficient assessments of natural durability are required to ensure quality either through tree breeding or segregation during production. In this study, first the relationship between extractive content and mass loss of Eucalyptus bosistoana heartwood caused by a white and a brown-rot fungus was validated. Then the ability of NIR spectroscopy as a high-throughput method to evaluate heartwood decay resistance was examined. Finally the NIR method was applied to a tree breeding trial. A correlation between extractive content and mass loss against the white-rot fungus (Perenniporia tephropora) and the brown-rot fungus (Coniophora olivacea) were found. Analysis of NIR spectra indicated that this relationship is causal with shared bands for mass loss and extractive content models at 6650, 6017, 5265 and 4659 cm⁻¹. Partial least squares regression (PLSR), supplemented with spectra normalisation and variable selection, allowed prediction of mass loss with a residual mean square error (RMSE) of 7.48 % and 5.76 % for the white-rot and brown-rot, respectively. This level of precision allowed the characterisation of a E. bosistoana resource which showed a range of mass loss from 0 to 60 %. Genetic control was found for mass loss by the white-rot ( h² = 0.70 and 0.24) and the brown-rot ( h² = 0.15 and 0.13) at two sites in New Zealand. The rankings were correlated between sites, with genetic correlations (${\text{R}}_{\text{g}}^2$) of 0.69 and 0.63 for white-rot and brown-rot, respectively, as well as to the predicted extractive content (0.82 to 0.92). However, the study indicated a significant site effect on the decay resistance of the E. bosistoana heartwood. In summary, this study has shown that the decay resistance could be assessed rapidly and efficiently using NIR technology for genetic selection.

木材种类的自然耐久性可以改变。因此，需要对自然耐久性进行有效评估，以确保通过树木育种或生产过程中的隔离来保证质量。在这项研究中，首先验证了白色和褐腐真菌引起的桉树心材提取物含量与质量损失之间的关系。然后检查了近红外光谱作为评估心材抗腐性的高通量方法的能力。最后，将近红外技术应用于树木育种试验。白腐真菌（Perenniporia tephropora）和褐腐真菌（Coniophora olivacea）的提取物含量与质量损失之间的相关性） 被发现。NIR光谱分析表明，这种关系与质量损失和提取物含量模型在6650、6017、5265和4659 cm ^-1的共享谱带成因果。偏最小二乘回归（PLSR），加上光谱归一化和变量选择，可以预测质量损失，白腐病和棕腐病的残留均方误差（RMSE）分别为7.48％和5.76％。如此高的精确度可用于鉴定E. bosistoana资源，该资源的质量损失范围为0％至60％。发现遗传控制通过白腐病（  h ² = 0.70和0.24）和棕腐病（  h ²= 0.15和0.13）。排名与站点之间相关，并且具有遗传相关性（${\text{[R}}_{\text{G}}^2$分别为白腐病和褐腐病的0.69和0.63），以及预测的提取物含量（0.82至0.92）。但是，该研究表明，对E. bosistoana心材的耐腐性具有明显的位点效应。总而言之，这项研究表明，使用NIR技术进行遗传选择可以快速有效地评估抗衰变性。