IUFRO Breeding theory and progeny testing

A meeting was held in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, Russia , at September 13-15, 2005. The meeting was arranged by Institute of Biology , Komi Scientific Centre of Ural Division of Russian Academy of Sciences. Main organiser was Dr Aleksey Fedorkov. The theme was: “Status, monitoring and targets for breeding programs". Proceedings from the meeting is now available at http://www.nordicgenecar.org/meetingReports.htm

The forested area of Greece represents the 20% of the total land area of the country, while 40% of the existing forests are formed by coniferous species. Pinus halepensis Mill. and Pinus brutia Ten. (species of the group Halepensis) are valuable and prominent low elevation Mediterranean pines with a significant role to rural economies. Both species’ ability to grow in the adverse climatic conditions of the Mediterranean region, their fast growth in favorable sites together with the ability to endure forest fires through specific mechanisms, render them irreplaceable multipurpose species for forestry in the special and delicate Mediterranean ecosystem.

Main native species: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.)

Most important hardwood: Birch (Betula pendula Roth, Betula pubescens Ehrh.)

Introduced in the 1970s: Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon)

The first societies for forest tree breeding in Sweden were founded in 1936 (for South Sweden) and 1941 (for North Sweden), merging in 1959 and later evolving in to the present tree breeding branch of Skogforsk. Much of the initial efforts were spent on hardwood and ideas picked up from agricultural experiences. The reorganization in 1967 into a national forest tree breeding institute was more directed towards conifer breeding. The first basic plus-tree selections were carried out in the period 1940-1960 in mature wild forests.

Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) is the first plantation tree species in France where it represents 10% of the forest area and 24% of wood harvest. The South West of France (Aquitaine) is the main production region with 1 million ha of cultivated maritime pine forest, planted or sowed since 1850. The productivity, from an average of 10 m3/ha/y, can reach 20 to 25 m³/ha/y in current increment on best sites; the rotation age is around 45y and is decreasing with improved varieties. Today 8.5 millions m³ per year are harvested and largely processed locally into 60% sawtimber, and 40% industrial wood.

Virtually all plantation forestry in New Zealand is based on exotics, and 95% of current planting is of Pinus radiata, for which an intensive breeding programme has been progressing since 1950. There has been ongoing importation of seed and domestication of exotic tree species since the second half of the 19th century, with adequate documentation of seed sources from about 1920 onwards. Formal tree improvement research started in 1950 with the appointment of I.J. Thulin from Denmark, a student of pioneer forest geneticist, Syrach Larsen. He initiated a programme of intensive establishment of provenance trials of a wide variety of conifers lasting from 1955 to about 1970, paralleled by the initial development of radiata pine breeding and seed orchards. Provenance trials were planted, often at many sites, of Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pinus ponderosa, P. contorta, P. attenuata, P. monticola, Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla, Thuja plicata, and various Abies species from the Pacific Northwest USA, P. strobus, P. elliotii, P taeda, P. virginiana, from the eastern USA and Pinus nigra, P. pinaster, Larix decidu from Europe, Larix leptolepis from Japan, etc. Later attention was given to a large number of Mexican pines, such as P. patula, P. pseudostrobus and P. michoacana, and later still to P. muricata, a close relative of P. radiata. The breeding programme for radiata pine had proceeded within the NZ land race, composed of two of the three Californian populations, and provenance testing had been delayed, beginning in 1963, and was repeated more intensively with establishment of extensive gene resources in 1980.

Korea, a mountainous country with 64% of its land in forests, has a long history of close relationship with forests. Korean government and all people have made efforts toward reforestation, education and research. As a result, remarkable achievements have been made in Korea forestry, especially forest recovering. Tree improvement began early 20th century and breeding programs launched in 1956, starting with plus tree selection and seed orchard establishment.

Clonal seed orchard of Pinus densiflora in Korea

At the IUFRO Conference “Eucalyptus in a Changing World” in Aveiro, Portugal, in October 2004, I was struck by a remark made in one of the sessions to the effect that little work on eucalypt breeding seems to be going on in Asian countries. While some of the work is under-reported in the international literature, many Asian countries in fact have well-advanced programs of domestication and genetic improvement for eucalypt species and other tree genera of Australian origin.

Australian tree genera are very prominent in tropical and subtropical plantation forestry (Evans and Turnbull 2004). In addition to their use in formal plantations, eucalypts and other Australian species are planted widely in rows or as individual trees on farms, around homesteads, and along canals and roadsides throughout much of the warmer regions of the world. Plantations of Acacia species of Australian origin are estimated to occupy about 2 M hectares, and continue to expand rapidly (Midgley and Turnbull 2003). Planting of Australian species as exotics began in the late 18th century, and has continued at an accelerating rate, despite some controversies over issues such as weediness, water use, social impacts and land ownership.

The CSIR has a Tree Improvement team of 13, seven of which are graduates working on genetics (6 people) and reproductive biology (2) in support of Tree Breeding. We currently have a general drive to strengthen the CSIR’s research/science base, and the Tree Improvement Research Group will probably appoint an additional geneticist shortly. The genetic interests primarily concern quantitative genetics, the interest of this IUFRO working group. We use our tree breeding programs as ‘field laboratories’ for our theoretical work.

Our current research activities in quantitative genetics include the following: