Newsletter of the High-Value Wood
Resources
research programme of the CRC for Forestry
ISSUE THREE: May 2007
Research Programme Two co-sponsored the first Australasian
Forest Genetics Conference, which was held in Hobart from 11-14
April 2007. Over 90 scientists from 11 countries
discussed advances in breeding for improved plantations of pines,
eucalypt and other species. CRC for Forestry scientists were well
represented, presenting nine papers on the conference theme,
“Breeding for Wood Quality”.
Dr Dean Williams explaining management of Forestry Tasmania’s
clonal seed orchard of Eucalyptus nitens during the
conference field tour.
Considerable improvement has been achieved by breeding
plantation trees for faster growth, straighter stems and finer
branches. However, there has been less improvement in density and
other wood qualities, even though CSIRO pioneered research on
breeding for wood quality in radiata pine 50 years ago. Now, there
is rapid progress that will result in better wood from fast-growing
plantations. Major advances were reported in wood quality
evaluation, applications of quantitative genetics, and prospects
for gene-assisted breeding using single nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs) for earlier and more accurate selection.
Written conference papers have been published on CD and are
citeable. These will be available on the members' website
soon.
I’m pleased to be able to report that we recruited three
more enthusiastic and talented PhD students, all of whom are off to
a great start (for more information on our students click here)
Programme committees'
update
Research Programme Two member organisations have kept in touch
through a series of project steering committee teleconferences in
early 2007.
Project steering committees (members only) can view:
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minutes of Project 2.1 Project Steering Commitee, 20 February.
Click
here
-
minutes of Project 2.4 Project Steering Committee, 24 April.
Click
here
What's on
The project steering committees have an invaluable role
providing scientific guidance for our research projects, and some
good advice to help us ensure our scientific outputs can add value
to real-world forestry operations. But there’s nothing
like having the opportunity to discuss the progress and future of
our science face-to-face, so I hope to see representatives of all
CRC partners at the Annual Science Meeting which will
be held at the Barossa Novotel 11-13 July. We’re
organising a series of science presentations from our research
programme that will showcase some of the exciting progress
we’re making, with a focus on applying that new
information and the potential for industry uptake. We’ll
also review progress and strategic direction through a Programme
Coordination Committee meeting. See you there!
Project news
Project 2.1 Breeding for high value wood
products
A new marker system is being developed to support gene-assisted
breeding
Dr Dorothy Steane of the University
of Tasmania who already contributes to Research
Programme Four is now working part-time on the molecular
breeding study in Project 2.1. Dot’s first task is
to coordinate the development of a set of DArT markers
for eucalypts.
The CRC for Forestry is co-investing in the development of the DArT
technology for eucalypts and we will use it to complement our
studies on individual candidate genes for wood quality. We
anticipate being able to develop a set of over 3,000 variable DArT
markers randomly distributed across the entire eucalypt genome and
will use these to test the relative importance of different
candidate genes in controlling economic wood traits. The DArT
markers will also enable us to tie our gene studies across to the
complete eucalypt genome sequence, which should be publicly
available within the lifetime of the CRC. This will enable us
to home in quickly on further candidate genes. As we
anticipated, molecular technology continues to develop and sample
processing is getting quicker, so we are well ahead of schedule in
meeting the project milestones and deliverables. The future of gene
assisted breeding looks bright! You can read some interesting
papers in this subject area that were presented at the Australasian
Forest Genetics Conference.
Project 2.2 Silviculture for high-value solid and
engineered wood products
A solid-wood genetic trials of Eucalyptus globulus has
been established
Tom Baker (University of Melbourne) and
David Pilbeam of the Southern Tree Breeding Association (STBA) are
guiding the conversion of two STBA progeny trials of
Eucalyptus globulus in Victoria from pulp-wood to
solid-wood silvicultural regimes. These pedigreed trials
will provide a valuable scientific resource to help determine
level of genetic control of traits affecting sawlog production
and to study clearwood production in E. globulus.
Progeny trial at Condah, Western Victoria, age four years, before
thinning and pruning
Condah trial after thinning and pruning
Physiology of sub-tropical eucalypt plantations
CRC for Forestry PhD student Phil
Alcorn is completing his PhD studies at the Australian National
University where he has been studying the physiology of
subtropical eucalypts in northern New South Wales (NSW)
plantations. Phil has worked closely with Forests NSW
researchers Geoff Smith and Dane Thomas. More detailed results from
Phil’s studies will be available shortly to CRC members on
the Project 2.2 web page.
Phil and co-workers from the Australian National University
conducted silvicultural trials to examine the crown dynamics and
effects of pruning intensity on the growth of young
plantation-grown E. pilularis and E. cloeziana
trees. The trials were established in experimental and
commercial plantations managed by Forests NSW near Coffs Harbour
and Port Macquarie.
A planting density trial suggested that increasing planting
density from 1,250 to 1,667 stems per hectare (SPH) will improve
early branch control. However, there was little advantage in
establishing trees at 3,333 SPH.
Green crown pruning, as an alternative form of silviculture to
control early branch development, was examined in dominant and
co-dominant trees of each species grown at an initial stocking of
1,250 SPH. Trees were pruned to remove 20, 50 or 70 per cent of the
green crown length. Unpruned trees were also studied in the
experiment. Results showed that:
-
Pruning to remove 50 per cent or greater of the green crown
may temporarily reduce diameter at breast height (DBH) growth but
not height growth.
-
Pruning to remove up to 50 per cent of the green crown at
canopy closure had no adverse impact on tree size (height or DBH)
or canopy dominance two years after pruning.
-
Stem form, stem taper and wood density were unaffected by
pruning.
PhD student with Project 2.2, Phil Alcorn measuring photosynthesis
in a young plantation
To better understand growth response to pruning, further
measurements of leaf physiology, whole tree water-use, crown
architecture and biomass partitioning in the upper, middle and
lower thirds of the pruned and unpruned trees were also
completed.
-
There was no change in leaf physiology six months after
pruning to remove 50 per cent of crown.
-
After pruning, whole-tree water use rapidly increased to
pre-pruning levels within three months.
-
After crown removal, leaf area of pruned trees was recovered
to pre-pruning levels within nine months.
-
Residual branch growth above the pruned zone was unaffected by
pruning.
These results suggest that removal of up to 50 per cent of green
crown in either E. pilularis or E. cloeziana
trees will have minimal impacts on growth, form, wood density,
residual branch growth or canopy processes - this is important
information for managers considering pruning as a tool to improve
log value.
More detailed results from Phil’s studies will be
available shortly to CRC members on the Project 2.2 web page.
Visit to Chile
Peter Volker and Tom Baker visited Chile last October. CRC members
can read Peter Volker’s report here.
Project 2.3 Impact of silviculture on wood quality and wood
processing
Processing plantation-grown Eucalyptus
nitens
The processing study that we carried out on 81 pruned trees from
Forestry Tasmania’s 22-year-old Eucalyptus nitens
silvicultural trial at Goulds Country in Tasmania (see newsletter edition
1) is pretty well complete. Results from the processing study
and ancillary studies on log form, tree crown structure and
prediction of product quality and value using non-destructive
evaluation techniques are available to project partners as a series
of technical reports on the Project 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 web pages of
the CRC for Forestry members’ website. Scientists from
Project 2.3 will submit a number of papers arising from this study
for journal publication in coming months.
Technical Report 169 “Crown symmetry and stem shape in a
Eucalyptus nitens plantation in relation to intra specific
competition” by Jane Medhurst, Maria Ottenschlaegerand and
Matthew Wood has been published and is available on the
members’ website to members of Projects 2.1-2.4.
A draft of Technical report 168 "Gould’s Country
Eucalyptus nitens thinning trial: solid wood quality and
processing performance using conventional processing strategies" by
Russel Washusen, Chris Harwood, et al. is available in
draft form on the
members' website to members of Project 2.3.
Project 2.3 is planning to hold seminars and field days to
present key results to the tree-growing and sawmilling industry
sectors (keep an eye out for the workshop dates on the CRC
members’ calendar – the first in this series are
planned to be held in Tasmania). In short, yield of saleable sawn
product from the trees was moderate to good, but value was lowered
substantially by surface and internal checking. We are now planning
follow-up processing trials to test ways to reduce these
problems.
Mr Dung Ngo of Ensis carrying out detailed assessment of selected
boards at McKay Timbers sawmill, Glenorchy Tasmania, November
2006.
Boards cross-cut for assessment of internal checking
Project 2.4. Incorporating wood quality into plantation
estate management
Near-infrared analysis to predict pulp yield
Dr Geoff Downes and co-authors have produced a CRC technical report
detailing the development by Ensis of a global near-infrared (NIR)
calibration for predicting kraft pulp yield (KPY) from eucalypt
samples. Project partners can access the draft report
here. We have used this calibration to
predict the pulp yield of core samples from Eucalyptus
globulus trees from the Gunns Limited progeny trial at
Shale Oil in northern Tasmania, for the association genetics
study in Project 2.1. Whole-tree pulps were conducted on
20 of these trees. Predicted KPY explained 82 per cent of
the variance of the whole-tree KPY of those trees. This
“blind validation” result reinforces our confidence
that NIR can provide cost-effective and accurate prediction of
key wood traits to industry on a routine basis.
Meanwhile, M.Sc student Juan Carlos Valencia and Ensis project
staff are examining whether NIR surface scans can predict shrinkage
in E. nitens wood samples taken from the Goulds Country
processing study (congratulations to Juan Carlos and his wife Katia
on the arrival of their new son, Sebastian, in February!).
Welcome to new PhD students and
post-doctoral fellows
Francisco Jimenez de Gracia (fdegracia-ts@csiro.au) completed
his Masters in
Agricultural Science (University of Salamanca) and Forestry Science
(University of Cordoba) in Spain, with further studies at the
Universities of Gottingen and Freiburg in Germany. Francisco
started his PhD studies at the University of Tasmania in
March. His topic is “physiology of branch shedding and
silviculture to minimise the risk of branch-associated defects in
Eucalyptus nitens and E. globulus stands”.
Natural branch shedding doesn't occur in E. globulus and
E. nitens plantations -the failure or delay of
branch-shedding in plantations grown for solid wood products could
lead to significant timber defects. Francisco’s work aims to
better predict the risk of branch-associated defects and to help
develop reliable silvicultural practices to minimise these defects
in E. nitens and E. globulus stands grown for
solid-wood products.
David
Blackburn is an agricultural science graduate from the
University of Tasmania. David’s study area is
“improvement of eucalypts for solid wood products” and
he commenced his PhD studies at the University of Tasmania in
January. David will study biological and economic factors that can
maximise profitability from processing plantation-grown hardwood
timber. It’s likely that he will study veneer
production from E. nitens, which has so far received less
attention than sawn timber. His training and work experience
in mechanical engineering and agriculture puts him in a strong
position to undertake this project.
Tim Sexton
(t.sexton10@scu.edu.au)
commenced his PhD studies at Southern Cross
University (SCU) in February. He is examining the potential for
gene assisted breeding to improve wood quality in blackbutt (E.
pilularis), under the guidance of Professor Rob Henry and
Dr Merv
Shepherd. Merv has commenced work as the SCU
post-doctoral fellow on the project. Merv and Tim’s
research will link closely to the molecular genetics studies being
undertaken at the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania.
