handbook - conference innovators handbookcomp.pdf · handbook. 1 contents page conference sponsors...

Handbook

1

Contents PageConferenceSponsors 2WelcomefromtheConvenor 3Maps 4KeynoteSpeakers 5Programme 8ProgrammeInformation 16SocialProgramme 17GeneralInformation 18Abstracts

Monday 19Wednesday 29Thursday 47Friday 53

Posters 63

Conference Organising Committee

Scion staff: HeidiDungey(Convenor),EmilyTelfer,LynnBulman,ChristlMcMillan,PeterClinton,KylieGunn,StephanieByers,GrahamKelly.

Conference Innovators

The Conference Committee extends thanks to members of the Science Committee: HeidiDungey,IUFRO2.02.20SouthernpinesMichaelStoer,IUFRO2.02.05PacificNWconifersShawnMansfield,IUFRO2.04.06MolecularbiologyofforesttreesDarioGrattapaglia,EMBRAPA

DeputyCoordinator2.04.06–MolecularbiologyofforesttreesDeputyCoordinatorDivision2IEB–IUFROEnlargedBoardDeputyCoordinator22.00.00–PhysiologyandGenetics

BrianBaltunis,WeyerhaeuserAntoineKremer,INRAPeterClinton,Scion

DeputyCoordinator8.01.03–ForestsoilsandnutrientcyclesEmilyTelfer,ScionAlvinYanchuk,MinistryofForestsandRange,Canada

DeputyCoordinator7.03.11–Resistancetoinsects

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – growing New Zealand for all

TheMinistryofBusiness,InnovationandEmployment’spurposeistogrowNewZealandforall. Ourgoalistocreateastrongandhighperformingeconomywithoutcompromisingtheintegrityofourenvironmentandthesafetyofourworkplaces.

Wedothisbycreatinganenvironmentthatsupportsbusinessestobecomemoreproductiveandinternationallycompetitive,andbyincreasingopportunitiesforallNewZealanderstoparticipateintheeconomythroughimprovedjobopportunitiesandbyensuringqualityhousingismoreaffordable.

UsingourextensivepresenceacrossNewZealandandaroundtheworldwewillimproveaccesstoideas,investmentandtradeopportunitiesthatwillsupportbusinessestogrowandinnovate.

With our Crown entity partners we work collaboratively with other government agencies; local government; businesses;industry,sector,unionandemployergroups;consumergroups;Māorileaders;andscientiststodevelopanddeliverfit-for-purposepolicy,services,adviceandregulationthatsupportpeople,businesses,communitiesandregionstobesuccessful.

WeareresponsiblefordeliveringanumberofinitiativesthatwillhelpachievetheGovernment’svisionforNewZealand’sscienceandinnovationsystem.Ourscienceinvestmentsupportsahigh-performingscienceandinnovationsystemsthatcreatesamorediverse,technologicallyadvanced,smartnation.

Asamajor supporterof scienceand innovation in the forestry sector,weareproud tobea sponsorof the2016ForestGeneticsforProductivityConference.

2

The Conference Organising Committee wishes to acknowledge and thank our sponsors,

without whom this conference would not have been possible.

PLATINUMSPONSOR

FIELDTRIPPARTNER&SILVERSPONSOR SILVERSPONSOR

BRONZESPONSOR SESSIONSPONSOR

POSTERSESSIONSPONSOR FIELDTRIPSPONSOR

MAJORSPONSOR

3

Averywarmwelcome

Onbehalfof theconferencecommittee Iamdelighted towelcomeyou toRotorua for theForest Genetics for Productivity Conference incorporating the Australasian Forest GeneticsConference.

ThisisthefirstinternationalconferenceontreegeneticsheldinNewZealandsince1997.TheconferenceprovidesanexcitingopportunityfortheNewZealandandinternationalresearchcommunitytoshareresearchfindingsandtoforgenewnetworks,particularlyforyoungandemergingscientists.

Over the next five days participants will hear from international experts and learn aboutinnovations applied to forestry breeding and growing on the global stage. Posters andpresentations will cover new technologies such as next generation genotyping, genomics,genotype by environment interactions, plant phenotyping, LiDAR and remote sensing andtheirapplicationtothedevelopmentofgeneticallyimprovedtrees.

IncreasingforestproductivityisaprioritynotonlyfortheNewZealandforestindustrybutalsoglobally tomeet increasingdemand for timberandnon-timberproductsandservices.Thisconferencebringstogetherforestindustryleaders,scientistsandinnovatorsfromaroundtheworldtohelpsetthesceneforthefutureofthisvitalindustry,

During your stay here, I hope you find time to enjoy the unique setting of Rotorua, whichisfamousforitsnaturalgeothermalwonders,beautifullakes,outdoorpursuitsandcentreofMāoriculture.

Ilookforwardtomeetingyouandhopeyouhavearewardingconferenceexperience.

Heidi DungeyConvenor

4

Maps

iSite

Energy Events Centre

Blue Baths

Millennium Hotel

Sudima Hotel

Rydges Hotel Rotorua

Scion

ENERGY EVENTS CENTRE

ROTORUA

Registration,Posters & Catering

Conference Sessions

Workshop Room

CARPARK + EMERGENCY EVACUATION AREA

Espresso coffee

Up to Skellerup Room

To toilets

5

Keynotespeakers

Professor Dario Grattapaglia EMBRAPA & Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brazil

DarioisaresearchscientistatEMBRAPAandprofessorinthegraduateprogrammesofGenomicSciencesattheCatholicUniversityofBrasíliaandmolecularbiologyattheUniversityofBrasilia.His main areas of research include: forest tree genetics and breeding of sustainable forest treeplantationsforenergy,pulp,paperandfibre;genomictechnologiesappliedtobreedingpractice;andpopulationgeneticsandconservationoftropicaltrees.HewasprojectleaderoftheGenolyptusProject (Brazilian Network of Eucalyptus Genomic Research), and co-PI of the InternationalEucalyptusGenomeSequencingProject.

Dr Antoine KremerResearch Scientist at INRA, Pierroton, France

Antoine isaseniorscientistat INRABordeaux. His researchdealswiththeevolutionofgeneticdiversityanddifferentiationbetweennaturaltreepopulations,atvarioushierarchicallevelswherediversity is expressed (from genes to phenotypic traits). Antoine initiated Europe-wide forestryresearchasearlyasthe1980sbasedonpopulationgeneticsandevolutionarybiology.Hiscurrentinterest addresses microevolution in the context of environmental changes linking genetics,genomicsandecology.

David Pont Research Scientist, Scion, New Zealand

David’scurrentresearchfocusesonthedetectionandcharacterisationofindividualtreesinaerialandterrestrialLiDARdata.Davidhasbeendevelopingandtestingthesemethodstoprovidethebasisforphenotypingtreesingeneticstrials,researchtrialsandforeststandsusingremotelysenseddata.Davidhasover30years’forestryresearchexperience,specialisinginthemeasurementandmodellingofindividualtreegrowthandwoodqualityandhascontributedtothedevelopmentof models integrating tree growth, branch growth and within-stem wood properties, used toquantifytree,logandproductquality.

Professor Dr Ulrich Schurr Institute Director of IBG-2: Plant Sciences at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

Ulrich is interested in the performance and optimisation of plants in spatially varying andenvironmentalconditions.Inrecentyears,withhisteam,hedevelopednon-invasivetechniquestoquantitativelyacquirestructural,physiologicalandmoleculardata.HefoundedtheJülichPlantPhenotyping Centre (JPPC), which forms the core of the German Plant Phenotyping Network(DPPN),andcoordinatestheEuropean(EPPN)andtheInternationalPlantPhenotypingNetwork(IPPN)todevelopnewmethodsandinnovativeexperimentalconceptsforplantphenotyping.

6

Dr Jerry TuskanGroup Leader, Plant Systems Biology, BioSciences Division, Oak Ridge Laboratory, TN, USA

Jerry’s research focuses on the genetic basis of tree growth and development includingcollaborationsonthegenomesequencesofpoplarandPopulusgenomicsincludingtheassemblyof thedraft sequence, comparativegenomicsand functionalgene identification.More recentlyJerryhasbeen involvedwiththedevelopmentofEucalyptusbiofeedstocks. In2012,hewasthefourthawardrecipientoftheInstituteofForestBiotechnology’sForestBiotechnologistoftheYear,andin2014hewasnamedaCorporateFellowbyUT-Battelle.

Professor Brian Cullis Inaugural Professor of Biometry, Grains Research and Development Corporation & CSIRO, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

BrianisProfessorofBiometryattheUniversityofWollongong,apositionco-fundedbytheGrainsResearchandDevelopmentCorporationandCSIRO.Upuntil2011,Brianworkedasabiometricianformorethan30yearswithNSWDepartmentofPrimaryIndustries.Brianisinterestedinthedesignand analysis agricultural and biological data, with his expertise more recently being applied inforestry.Muchofhisworkhasinvolvedtheanalysisofexperimentaldatausinglinearmixedmodels,andhe isaco-authorof theASReml softwarepackageand theRpackageASReml-R.Brianhasco-authoredmorethan180journalarticles,hasservedasaCo-EditorofBiometricsandcurrentlyisanAssociateEditoroftheAustralianandNewZealandJournalofStatisticsandtheJournalofAgriculturalScienceCambridge.

David Balfour Acting CEO, Timberlands, Rotorua, New Zealand

Davidhasover30years’experienceintheforest industry.HeisamemberoftheForestOwnersAssociation Executive, Chairman of the Forest Research Committee, and serves on the ForestGrowersLevyTrustBoard.

FormallyDavidwasChiefExecutiveofBSWTimber,aScottishcompany,whichownedfivesawmillsandstumpageoperations.Hisexperienceincludesforestmanagement,managementofharvestingandmarketingoperations,sitemanagerforalargesawmillandlumbersales.DavidgraduatedfromEdinburghUniversitywithaBSc(Hons)inEcologicalScience.HeisafellowoftheRoyalInstituteofCharteredForesters(UK)andisanassociatememberoftheNZInstituteofForestry.

Dr Robert BanksDirector of Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), University of New England, NSW, Australia

Rob has been involved in the genetic improvement of Australia’s extensive meat and livestockindustriesforover30years,intheestablishmentofthegeneticevaluationsystemfortheAustralianlamb industry, LAMBPLAN which was then of extended to provide genetic evaluation for theMerinoindustry.Morerecently,andinresponsetorapidadvancesingenomictechnologies,RobhasledthedevelopmentofInformationNucleusflocksandherds.IntensivephenotyinginthesepopulationswillhelpmaximisethereturnsfrominvestingingenomictestingintheAustralianredmeatindustries.SincetakinguptheroleofDirector,Robhasguidedprojectsfocussedongeneticevaluationofdairygoatsandhoneybees,aswellascontributingtoAGBU’sportfolioofprojects.

RobisontheboardoftheSouthernTreeBreedingAssociation.

7

John McEwan Senior Scientist, Animal Genomics, AgResearch Invermay, New Zealand

Johnisinvolvedinanimalgeneticsandgenomicsresearch.HispreviousandcurrentworkincludessequencinggenomesandbuildinggenotypingplatformsincludingSNPchipsandgenotypingbysequencingmethodologies;traitspecialtiesarehostgeneticsofmethaneemissions,diseaseandmeat.

8

Programme

Monday 14 March – Bay Trust Forum

7.00am Registrationdeskopen

9.00am Mihi/Karakia ConferenceOpening Martyn Dunne, Director-General, Ministry for Primary Industries Warren Parker, Chief Executive, Scion

10.00am MorningTea

10.30am KEYNOTEOverviewofcurrentstatusofgeneticsandfuturetrends Antoine Kremer

11.15am KEYNOTE ForestIndustryGeneticImprovement–Vision,prioritiesandlearningfromotherspecies Robert Banks Chair:HeidiDungey

12.00pm Lunch

1.00pm KEYNOTE WhatarethefourkeyquestionsthatNewZealandforestrywantsansweredbygenetics? David Balfour

1.30pm INVITED SPEAKERMoreurgencyinthedeliveryofcommercialbenefitsfromgeneticimprovement John Butcher Chair:HeidiDungey

Theme: Breeding productive and resilient forests

1.50pm RealisedgeneticgainforgrowthandwooddensityinNewZealandradiatapine John Moore

2.10pm Corymbiaspeciesandhybrids;challengesandpotential David Lee

2.30pm SamplingstrategiesforwoodpropertiesofEucalyptus bosistoanaaccountingforspatialpatterns Luis Apiolaza

2.50pm Discussionandnotices Chair:AlisonStewart

3.00pm Afternoontea

9

Theme: Breeding productive and resilient forests

3.30pm ProductivepotentialofselectedNorwaysprucepopulationsfromNorthernPoland(preliminarystudyfromtestingprogram)

Marcin Klisz

3.45pm Investigatingefficiencyofselectionusingunivariateandmultivariatebestlinearunbiasedpredictors Richard Kerr

4.00pm Whenisfastgrowthcostly?Insectherbivoryshiftsselectionpatternsinaforesttree Raul De La Mata

4.15pm Improvementofnon-keytraitsinradiatapinebreedingprogrammewhenlong-termeconomicimportanceisuncertain

Yongjun Li

4.30pm Closinganddiscussion Chair:LuisApiolaza

5.30pm Posterevening

10

Forest Genetics Clonal Varieties Increase Productivity

Substantially increased growth rate, wood quality and Dothi resistance

Stable performance across a wide range of forest sites

30% increase in carbon offsets

Selection and gain estimates based on:

Type of Trial No. Trials Years Planted

1st Generation

Selection

New Zealand 26 1999-2005

Australia 20 2003-2008

Validation

New Zealand 130 2000-2015

Australia 18 2007-2013

Latest results: Central North Island large plot trial #2

Volume Corewood Wood

Genetics (% gain or

dm3/ha)

Stiffness (Gpa)

Density (kg/m

3)

age 9 age 5 age 5

Variety A +15% 7.9 373

Variety B +38% 8.1 345

Variety C +17% 8.1 368 GF24-30 Control Pollinated -0.9% 5.9 318 GF19 Open pollinated 0.22 5.7 324

Latest results: Central North Island row plot trial #1

Volume Dothi Corewood Wood

Genetics (dm3/ha)

(% needles uninfected)

Stiffness (Gpa)

Density (kg/m

3)

age 8.5 age 5 age 5 age 5

Best Variety 0.26 75 7.2 326

All 10 Varieties

0.23 58 5.8 316

GF24 Control pollinated (GFPlus 22)

0.19 44 3.8 322

GF19 Open pollinated

0.18 40 3.6 315

Contact Mike Carson: 07 357 [email protected]

Christine Te Riini: 027 375 2733

For more information: www.forest-genetics.com

11

Tuesday 15 March – Fieldtrip

8.15am DepartRotoruaEnergyEventsCentre

9.15am Compartment1061KaingoroaForest Ademonstrationtrialcomparingpre-productPinus radiataclonesandcommerciallyavailableopen-pollinated

andcontrolpollinatedseedlots MikeCarson

10.00am Morningtea

10.45am Compartment192KaingoroaForest Operationaloutplantingofatestedcloneandcomparisontocommercialopenpollinatedseedlot-Useof

clonalmaterialfromagrower’sperspective. Dean Witehira

12.00pm Compartment179KaingoroaForest Cypressclonalblockplantings Charlie Low

12.45pm Lunch

1.30pm UAVDemonstration Marie Heaphy

2.15pm Compartment333KaingoroaForest ProgenytrialsofEucalyptus fastigataandE. regnans–discussthehistoryofthebreedingprogrammesfor

thesetwospeciesandgainsmadetodate Mari Suontama

3.15pm Compartment320KaingoroaForest NewCypresshybridclonesundertestimproveddiseaseresistanceandimprovednaturaldurability Charlie Low

4.45pm ReturnRotoruaEnergyEventsCentre

12

Wednesday 16 March – Bay Trust Forum

7.30am Registrationandinformationdeskopen

Theme: Finding the synergies in genotype, environment and silviculture

8.30am KEYNOTEGenotypexenvironmentinteractioninalargeMETanalysisofPinus radiata Brian Cullis

9.15am IdentifyingsitetypesforPinus radiatageneticevaluationinAustralia Gregory Dutkowski

9.35am Relativeimpactofmechanicalsitepreparationandstockideotypeonsurvivalandgrowthofsouthernpinehybridsaged15years

Mark Hunt

9.55am Discussionandhousekeeping Chair:PeterClinton

10.00am MorningTea

Theme: Finding the synergies in genotype, environment and silviculture

10.30am IncreasedefficientofbreedingvaluepredictionofSwedishNorwaysprucebreedingprogrambyspatialanalysisanddissectinggenotypebyenvironmentinteractions

Zhiqiang Chen

10.50am Genotypexsitexsilvicultureinteractionsinradiatapine:Knowledge,workinghypothesesandpointersforresearch

Rowland Burdon

11.10am SimulatingrealizedgaintrialsbyincorporatingheritablemorphologicaltraitsfromDouglas-firprogenytestsintogrowthmodels

Sukhyun Joo

11.30am InfluenceofsitefactorsongrowthandphysiologyofPinus radiatagenotypes,andtheimplicationsofsilvicultureontreebreedingtrials

Dean Meason

12.00pm Discussion Chair:KeithJayawickrama

12.05pm Lunch

1.00pm SilviculturalvalueofprogenyofEuropeanbeechprovenancesunderthehabitatconditionsofSouthernPoland

Szymon Jastrzębowski

1.20pm Progresswiththerollingfrontinradiatapine Tony McRae

1.40pm SlashxCaribbeanpinehybridgeneticimprovementinQueensland Dominic Kain

2.00pm GeneticevaluationofSwedishscotspinebreedingprogram Gunnar Jansson

2.20pm Optimisingselectionintreebreedingwithconstraintsonrelatednessandoperationalflexibility Tim Mullin

13

2.40pm BreedingtoimprovefoliaroilyieldsinEucalyptus polybractea John Doran Chair:GregDutkowski

3.00pm Afternoontea

3.30pm GeneticcontrolofgrowthstraininEucalyptus bosistonana:veryearlyscreeningofaleft-censoredtrait Nicholas Davies

3.45pm ApplyingexperimentaldesigninSwedishforesttreegeneticstrials Johan Westin (Presented by Richard Kerr on behalf of Johan)

4.00pm Screeningforredneedlecastresistanceinradiatapine Natalie Graham

4.15pm Producingforestsforthefutureclimate Simeon Smaill

4.30pm Closinganddiscussion Chair:JohnMoore

14

Thursday 17 March – Bay Trust Forum


Theme: Genomics and phenomics

8.30am KEYNOTEGenomicselectionintropicalEucalyptusbreeding:advantagesandchallenges Dario Grattapaglia

9.15am Firstevaluationofgenomicselectionforradiatapine Emily Telfer

9.35am Geneticsandgenomicsofkiwifruit–abreeder’sperpective Luis Gea

9.55am Discussionandhousekeeping Chair:GeraldTuscan

10.00am Morningtea

10.30am KEYNOTEPhenotypingplantsinvariableandheterogeneousenvironment-integratedapproachestomechanistic,high-throughputandfieldphenotyping

Ulrich Schurr

11.15am KEYNOTETheuseofLiDARforphenotypingtrees David Pont

11.40am Lidarupdate:Improvementsandopportunitiesinusingdatarichpointcloudsforforestmonitoring David Herries Chair:ElspethMacRae/HeidiDungey

12.00pm Lunch

Concurrent sessions

1.00pm ASREML-Rworkshop SkellerupRoom Bioinformaticsworkshop BayTrustForum Brian Cullis Dan Jones, NZGL Jaroslav Klapste Emily Telfer Mari Suontama

3.00pm Afternoontea

Concurrent sessions

3.30pm ASREML-Rworkshopcontinued Bioinformaticsworkshopcontinued

4.10pm Closinganddiscussion

6.30pm Conferencedinner–BlueBaths

15

Friday 18 March– Bay Trust Forum


Theme: Putting it all together

8.30am KEYNOTEFrontiersofgenomicselectioninsheep John McEwan

9.15am Advancedgenerationtreebreeding:Challengesandopportunities Harry Wu

9.35am TowardsgenomicselectionforwoodpropertiesinEucalyptus nitens Mari Suontama

9.55am Discussionandhousekeeping Chair:DarioGrattapaglia

10.00am Morningtea

10.30am KEYNOTEGenediscoverythroughgenome-wideassociationstudies Gerald Tuskan

11.15am Integratedphenotyping:bringingtogetherquantitativedatafromacrossdisciplinesformoreinformedplantbreeding

Nari Williams

11.35am SuccessfulclonalforestrywithradiatapineinNewZealand Michael Carson

11.55am Discussion Chair:EmilyTelfer

12.00pm Lunch

1.00pm Geneticdiversity,conservationandbreedingofEucalyptus benthamii David Bush

1.20pm Landscapecommunitygenomics Heidi Dungey

1.40pm Moleculargeneticmarkerstoachieveproductiveandresilientforests Valerie Hipkins

2.00pm Futureperspectives Heidi Dungey

2.20pm WORKSHOPSolutionstothefourquestionsposedbyDavidBalfour Chair:EmilyTelfer

2.40pm Panel/reportbackanddiscussion

3.15pm Afternoontea

16

Programme Information

Speakers’ Support CentreThe Speakers’ Support Centre is located in the back of the Bay Trust Forum (main plenary room) and will be open from 7.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

Oral PresentationsIt is important that all speakers check-in their audio visual material at the Speakers’ Support Centre at least two hours prior to the commencement of their allocated session. Speakers who are presenting at an early morning session should check-in their audio visual material the day before their presentation.

An audio visual technician will be available to assist with data projection or other technical requirements. If you require assistance from a technician, please ensure you arrange this during one of the breaks prior to your presentation.

Poster PresentationsPosters will be displayed from Monday 14 March to Friday 18 March. Poster presenters must check-in at the Registration Desk for directions to their allocated poster area. The presenting author must be present at their poster from 5.00pm to 7.00pm on Monday 14 March for the Poster and Trade Evening.

Posters not collected at the conclusion of the conference will be discarded.

The NZ Farm Forestry Association wishes all delegates an enjoyable and informative time at the 2016 Forest Genetics for Productivity Conference.

While many NZFFA members grow radiata pine, we also place a strong emphasis on special purpose species, with species-specific action groups for blackwoods, cypress, eucalypt, indigenous, and redwoods.

Pruning of an adolescent E.quadrangulata. Our members grow trees in all parts of New Zealand, with a huge variety of species, growing conditions, and practical experience of which species grow best where.

The NZFFA has represented small forest growers since 1957, and currently advocates for 14,000 forest owners on behalf of the Forest Growers Levy Trust.

E.nitens, from standing trees to polished flooring.

Our members range from Queen Street farmers to rural farmers to researchers and scholars. We can help with the full life-cycle of trees from selection to planting to silviculture to harvesting, and we have regular field days and seminars to see and talk about trees that are in the ground. For more information, contact: NZ Farm Forestry Association PO Box 10 349 Wellington 6143 T: +64 (0)4 472 0432 E: [email protected] W: www.nzffa.org.nz

Free copies of our

quarterly Tree Grower magazine

are available on request.

17

Social Programme

Poster evening

Date: Monday 14 March 2016Time: 5.30pm - 7.00pmVenue: History Wall Aisle, Rotorua Energy Events Centre Tickets: One ticket to the Poster and Trade Evening is included with a full registration.

The Poster evening will be held in the Grand Foyer and History Wall Aisle of the Energy Events Centre. Join your fellow delegates and sponsors for canapés and drinks to review the day’s learning, network or make dinner plans.

Conference Dinner

Date: Thursday 17 March 2016Time: 6.30pm - 11.00pmVenue: Blue Baths, Rotorua Tickets: One ticket to the Conference Dinner is included with a full registration. Additional tickets can be purchased for

$90.00 per ticket from the registration desk.

Join us at Rotorua’s historic Blue Baths for a night of fine food and entertainment.

17

18

GeneralInformation

Telephone

Registrationandinformationdeskandafterhours(RachelCook) 021918524

HotelsMillenniumHotelRotorua 073471234

RydgesHotelRotorua 073463888

SudimaLakeRotorua 073460238

TaxisRotoruaTaxis 073481111

SuperShuttle 0800748885

AirlinesAirNewZealand 0800737000

GeneralRotoruai-SITE 073485179

Airport transfersThestaffattheregistrationdeskwillbehappytoassistyou.

Luggage storageGuestsareabletostoreluggageattheirhotel,pleaseseethe concierge to arrange for luggage storage. StoragewillalsobeavailableneartheregistrationdeskatRotoruaEnergyEventsCentreonFriday.

Mobile phonesPlease ensure your mobile phone is switched off or onsilentmodeduringallconferencesessions.

Name badges and lanyardsPleasewearyourconferencenamebadgewhenattendingconferencesessionsandwithintheconferencevenue.

Smokingisnotpermittedintheconferencevenues.

For more information contact Sue Stephens on 07 349 5978 or [email protected]

officemax.co.nz

All-of-Government supplierOfficeMax are your preferred supplier under the AoG contract for these five categories:• Office Supplies• Education Supplies• ICT Consumables• Washroom Supplies• Cleaning & HygieneOfficeMax have everything you need to run your business and we can also supply a wide range of Safety Equipment, Furniture and Custom Printed products.

Abstracts

19

A B S T R A C T S – M O N D A Y

KEYNOTE

GENOMICS IN FORESTRY: WHERE ARE WE AND WHERE ARE WE HEADING TO?

Antoine Kremer

ULMR BIOGECO, INRA, University of Bordeaux, 33 610 Cestas, France

Whatkindofapplicationscanbeforeseeninforestrygiventherecentadvancesandresultsobtainedinthefieldofgenomics?Iwillreviewsomeofthemajorachievementsingenomicsandaddresstheirpotentialapplicationsinthreemajorforestryareas: breeding; conservation; and adaptation.The repetitive confirmation that the genetic architecture of most traits ofeconomicvalueishighlypolygenichasindeedredirectedthepotentialuseandapplicationofthegenomicvariationobservedinbreedingornaturalpopulationsoftrees.Inthesametimethepossibilitytoreconstructgeneticandgenomicrelatednessinstructuredandunstructuredpopulationshasopennewperspectivesforconservationandforestmanagement.Beyondthedevelopmentofgenomicselection inbreedingprogrammes,otherreasonableapplicationscanbeforeseen in foreststands that are renewed by natural regeneration.These include estimation of selection gradients, heritability in situ andconsequentlyevolutionarychangetriggeredbyongoingenvironmentalchange.

20


KEYNOTE

FOREST INDUSTRY PRIORITIES VISION AND PRIORITIES FOR FOREST GENETICS

Robert Banks

Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, University of New England, NSW 2351, Australia

Geneticimprovementofforesttreespeciesisfoundedonthesameunderlyingtheoryandprinciplesasgeneticimprovementinotherspecies,butwithsomespecificchallengesreflectingthebiologyandproductionsystemsspecifictoforestry.Thesechallengescanbedaunting,butneedtobeovercomeiftheopportunitycostsofsub-optimalgeneticprogressandhenceeconomic returns are to be avoided. A worthwhile vision for forestry genetic improvement is simply to achieve rates ofgeneticprogressthatoffsetrisinginputpricesandensurethatforestryissustainableeconomicallyandenvironmentally.Thepaperexploreswhatthismightincludeintermsofgoals,aswellasreviewingthetoolsavailabletohelpachievethatvision,andasystematicapproachtotheirimplementation.Increasingly,forestrybreederswillneedtodesigndatagenerationandutilisationsystemsthatenableimplementationofgenomicselection,andretentionofgeneticdiversity,tomaximiseabilitytocopewithmedium-termuncertainty.Thiswillrequirecoordinationatthenationalandlikelyinternationallevels,acrossorganisationsandtechnologies.Ifthiscanbeachieved,sustainabilityofforestryoperationscanbeenhanced,forbenefitofbothforestrycompaniesandthebroadercommunity.

21


THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AND BUSINESS CASE FOR GENOMIC SELECTION IN RADIATA PINE BREEDING

John Butcher

Radiata Pine Breeding Company, Rotorua, New Zealand

The Radiata Pine Breeding Company, working with Scion as major research provider, commenced its R&D programmeongenomicselectionin2014.TheR&Dprogrammeishighlytargetedatimplementingacommerciallyviableprocessforshorteningthebreedinganddeploymenttimelineandfor increasinggeneticgain in thetarget traitsofvolume,density,and corewood stiffness. The development pathway for genomic selection, and its integration with other breeding anddeploymenttechnologies,isdescribed.

RPBCisusingexome-basedGBStechnologiesforgenotyping.Initialtrainingpopulationscomprisedtwoclonaltrialswithexistingphenotypicdata.AnexpandedtrainingpopulationhasbeenestablishedbasedonnewlyselectedEliteswithtrialsestablishedin12regionalsitesandinthebreedingarchive.Whenphenotypicinformationisavailabletoalignwithgenomicinformation,sufficientplantmaterialwillbeavailabletoallowrapidbulkingupfordeployment.Thisapproachallowsgoodbalancebetweenoptimisingtheimpactsofgenomicselectionwhilstminimisingrisk.

NewcrossesforthenextgenerationofeliteswillbeselectedfromarchivedmaterialbasedonGeBVs.Severaldeploymentoptionsarebeingexamined,includingembryogenesis,tooptimiseplantingstockdevelopment.Detailedscenariosarebeingdevelopedtoidentifythefastestbreedinganddeploymentrouteandtocharacterisepotentialfinancialgains.TheexistingtargetsoftheBusinessPlan,althoughsignificant,donotasyetfullyexploitthepotentialofgenomicselection.Shorteningbreedinganddeploymenttimelines,andspeedingturnoverofgenerations,deliversmorebenefitthancanbeachievedbythepursuitofgeneticgainalone.

22


REALISED GENETIC GAIN FOR GROWTH AND WOOD DENSITY IN NEW ZEALAND RADIATA PINE

John Moore,MarkKimberley,HeidiDungey

Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand

Objectives: To estimate realised genetic gain for growth and wood density in radiata pine to aid decisions around thedeploymentandmanagementofgeneticallyimprovedtreestocks.

Methods:Usingdatafromanetworkoflarge-plottrials,realisedgeneticgainforgrowthwasquantifiedusingtwomeasuresofproductivity:siteindexand300Index[1].Therelationshipbetweentheseindicesandthegeneticratingforaseedlot(GFPlusgrowth rating)wasdetermined.Realisedgain forwooddensitywascalculatedusingamodelof the radialvariationin radiatapinewooddensity [2].The relationshipbetweenGFPlusdensity ratingandwooddensityatage20yearswasestimatedusingdatafrom679families.

Results:TherewaspositiverelationshipbetweenGFPlusgrowthratingandbothproductivitymeasures.Differencesof25%intotalstandingvolumeatage30yearsandof5.6%insiteindexwerefoundbetweenunimprovedandhighlyimprovedseedlots.EachunitincreaseinGFPlusratingwasassociatedwitha1.51%increaseinvolumegrowth.TherewasapositiverelationshipbetweenGFPlusdensityratingandpredictedwooddensityatage20years.EachunitofGFPlusdensityratingwasassociatedwitha1.85kgm-3increaseinwooddensityatage20years.

Conclusions:Realisedgeneticgainhasresultedinlargedifferencesinstandingvolumeandaconsistentimprovementinwooddensity.Quantificationofgeneticgaininthismannerfacilitatesitsincorporationintogrowthandyieldsimulators.

References[1]. Kimberley, M.O., Moore, J., & Dungey, H. S. (2015). Quantification of realised genetic gain in radiata pine and its incorporation

into growth and yield modelling systems. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 45, 1676–1687. [2]. Kimberley, M.O., Cown, D., McKinley, R., Moore, J., & Dowling, L. (2015). Modelling variation in wood density within and

among trees in stands of New Zealand-grown radiata pine. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 45:22.

23


CORYMBIA SPECIES AND HYBRIDS: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL

David Lee1,2,JeremyBrawner1,AntonZbonak2,BruceHogg2

1 Forest Industries Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia2 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland, Australia

Corymbia species and their hybrids are of increasing importance to world’s plantation forestry sector for many reasons:suitability across a wide range of environments, relatively high productivity in environments that are marginal for eitherintensiveagriculturalproductionorotherplantationspecies,tolerancetoarangeofpestsanddiseasesandthehighqualitydurabletimberproductsthatcanbeproducedfromthetrees(Lee,2007;Leeetal.,2010;Carvalhoetal.,2010;Nicholsetal.,2010).TheyarealsoknownfortheirhighpulpproductivityinChina,SouthAfrica,andAustralia(Phillips1989,Gardneretal.,2007;Brawneretal.,2012)andarebecomingimportantspeciesforcharcoalproductioninBrazil(e.g.Aperam;perscommEduardoHenriques,2011).

AcrossAustraliaover20,000hectaresofCorymbia spp.plantationshavebeenestablishedsincethelate1990s(Barbouretal.,2008)primarilyusingC. citriodorasubsp.variegatainthesubtropicsandC. maculataintemperateclimates.Thispresentationreportson the taxonomyof the spottedgumgroupandourcurrentknowledgeof Corymbia speciesandhybridswhengrown under plantations conditions focussing on: the productivity across different regions of the Australia’s subtropics,geneticimprovementofCorymbiaspeciesandhybrids,advantagesoftheCorymbiahybridsrelativetothepurespeciesandcharacterisationofCorymbiaspeciesandhybridswoodproperties.

24


SAMPLING STRATEGIES FOR WOOD PROPERTIES OF EUCALYPTUS BOSISTOANA ACCOUNTING FOR SPATIAL PATTERNS

Luis Apiolaza1,ElenzMoltchanova21 School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand2 School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand

TheNewZealandDrylandForestsInitiative(http://nzdfi.org.nz)hasestablishedbreedingpopulationtrialsforseveraleucalyptspecies,includingEucalyptus bosistoana.Thebreedingobjectiveforthisspeciesistoproducehigh-value,durablewoodwithlowgrowthstresses.

EarlyevaluationsofE. bosistoanamultipleenvironmenttrialshaveshownsubstantialvariabilityforgrowthtraitsandsurvivalbothbetween-andwithin-site.Furthermore,therearestrongspatialpatternsreflecting,forexample,positionintheslopeandaspect.

Whilegrowthtraitsareeasyandcheaptoassess,thewoodpropertiesofinterest(e.g.heartwoodcontentandquality,andgrowthstresses)areexpensiveandtimeconsuming,sosamplingisrequired.Commonsamplingapproachesintreebreedingaretruncationsampling(assessingwoodpropertiesonlyonbesttreesforgrowth)andrandomsampling(aimingtoincludetreesfromallfamilies).Thisresearchalsoteststheuseofrankedsetandbalancedacceptancesampling,whichcanconsiderspatialtrends,familystructureandotheravailableauxiliaryinformation.

Multivariatesimulationsof the foursamplingstrategiesconsideredthegrowth-traitsspatial trendstogetherwitha rangeofpotential values for the correlation between growth and wood durability.Truncation sampling badly bias the estimates ofgeneticparameters,whilerandomsamplingprovidesgoodestimatesbutitisinefficient,requiringtoomanysamples.Rankedsetsamplingandbalancedacceptancesamplingachievedbetterefficiencythanrandomsampling,withlowerassessmentcost.

25


PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF SELECTED NORWAY SPRUCE POPULATIONS FROM NORTHERN POLAND (PRELIMINARY STUDY FROM TESTING PROGRAM)

Marcin Klisz1,SzymonJastrzębowski1,KrzysztofUkalski2,JoannaUkalska2,PawełPrzybylski1

1 Forest Research Institute, Poland, Sekocin Stary, Poland2 Warsaw University of Life Science, Warsaw, Poland

In2006,StateForestry inPolandbegantheProgramforTestingForestReproductiveMaterial.The testsareconducted inordertoselectpopulationswiththebestadaptation,qualitativeandquantitativeproperties.AfterfiveyearsofgrowingoftheprogeniesofNorwayspruce,selectedseedstandstheheightstabilitydeterminingweredone.Thestudycoveredtheprogeniesof35selectedseedstandsofNorwaysprucefromnorthernPolandanditwascarriedoutin4sites(commongarden)inrandomisedcompleteblockdesigns.Theanalysisofvarianceforalinearmixedmodelwithpopulations(genotypes)asfixedeffectandenvironmentsandpopulation(genotype)χenvironmentinteraction(GEI)asrandomeffectswasperformed.TheGGEbiplotgraphicmethodwasusedtoidentifystablepopulationsinrelationtoheight.Baseduponthemeanheightestimators,the“averageenvironment”wasdefined.Itallowstodefinetherepresentativenessofgrowthconditionsforsites,aswellasthediscriminatingability.

Theresultsofgrowthheightallowedforthe identificationofpopulationscharacterisedbytheabove-the-averageheightstability.Therewerealsoidentifiedpopulationswhichareequallystable,yetconsiderablylowerthantheaverageheightofalltestedgenotypes.Findingpopulationswhicharethemostsimilartothetheoretical“idealpopulation”alloweddeterminingbestpopulationintermsofhighstabilityandwellmeanperformance.Thoseresultshould,however,betreatedaspreliminaryandrequiringfurtherverificationinthecourseofplannedmeasurementsinthefollowingfive-yearcycles.

26


INVESTIGATING EFFICIENCY OF SELECTION USING UNIVARIATE AND MULTIVARIATE BEST LINEAR UNBIASED PREDICTORS

Richard J. Kerr1,GregoryW.Dutkowski1,BruceTier2,LiLi2,ThomasA.McRae3

1 PlantPlan Genetics, Hobart, Australia2 Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, Armidale, Australia3 Beskid Żywiecki Southern Tree Breeding Association, Mount Gambier, Australia

Overthelast16yearstheSouthernTreeBreedingAssociation(STBA)hasdevelopedadedicatedgeneticevaluationsystem(TREEPLAN)foruseinforestgenetics.Itwasdesignedtobeuseablebyoperationalbreeders,tailoredforuseinrollingfrontbreedingprograms,andmostimportantly,haveamassivemultivariatecapabilityforintegratingallavailabledatageneratedbyanationalbreedingprogram.Inthisstudyananalysisbasedonsimulateddatawasruninordertoevaluatethebenefitof integrated analysis to STBA members and clients.The breeding plan and the quantitative genetic architecture of thesimulatedspecieswerebasedon Pinus radiata.The27 traits in theanalysiscomprised19growth traits (growth for threeageclasseswithinsevensitetypes),threebranchtraits,wooddensityfortwoageclasses,onewoodstiffnesstraitandonediseasetrait).Severalgeneticevaluationscenarioswereconsidered:amulti-traitanalysisofthe27traits(MULTI);27single-traitanalyses(SINGLE);andamulti-traitanalysisofthe19growthtraitscombinedwithsingle-traitanalysesfortheremainingtraits(MULTI/SINGLE).IneachcasetraitEBVswerecombinedintoa$NPVindexscorefortheobjectiveofimprovingprofitabilityinanintegratedforestgrowingandstructuraltimberproductionsystem.Wecomparedthetrue$NPVindexscoreforthetop5%ofthepopulationafterthreegenerationsofbreedingandselectingonthebasisoftheestimated$NPVscore,undereachscenario.Themainfindingisthatthegainin$NPVundertheMULTIscenarioissignificantlygreaterthaninotherscenarios.

27


WHEN IS FAST GROWTH COSTLY? INSECT HERBIVORY SHIFTS SELECTION PATTERNS IN A FOREST TREE

Raul De La Mata1,2, Sharon Hood3, Barbara Thomas1, Anna Sala2

1 Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada2 Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, USA3 USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, USA

Why natural populations of forest trees exhibit wide genetic variation in growth rates while facing strong selective pressures has long captivated evolutionary biologists and forest geneticists. Conflicting fitness effects among traits and fluctuating selection pressures over time are thought to contribute to genetic diversity. However, empirical evidence of such conflicts is scant, particularly for long-lived organisms such as trees. We used a 40-year-old Pinus ponderosa common garden genetic experiment that experienced extreme herbivory pressure due to a mountain pine beetle outbreak (MPB; Dendrochtonus ponderosae) at approximately 35 years of age, to test such conflicts. We show that the relative fitness contribution of fast growth depends on time- and stage-specific selective pressures. Faster growing genotypes were more likely to survive during early establishment and stand development, but less likely to survive the MPB outbreak, which caused a change in selection patterns. Our results further suggest that the growth-survival trade-off during the outbreak was not solely driven by the beetle preference for larger trees. We provide much needed empirical evidence of the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of genetic variation in long-lived organisms in nature, which have ecological, evolutionary and management implications. Future: varying abiotic stress could also be a cause of fluctuating selection pressures and trade-offs among life history traits, particularly under current climate change and associated drought. Currently at the University of Alberta we are addressing the topic of potential trade-offs between growth and resilience to drought in other widespread pine species from western North America, e.g. Pinus contorta.

28


IMPROVEMENT OF NON-KEY TRAITS IN RADIATA PINE BREEDING PROGRAMME WHEN LONG-TERM ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE IS UNCERTAIN

Yongjun Li1,HeidiDungey1,AlvinYanchuk2,LuisApiolaza3

1 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand2 British Columbia Forest Service, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Victoria, Canada3 School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Diameteratbreastheight,wooddensityandstiffnessarethekeytraitschosentoimproveradiatapineintheNewZealandradiatapinebreedingprogramme.Anyothertraitswhichareofinteresttoradiatapinebreedersarecallednon-keytraits.Externalresinbleeding,internalchecking,numberofheartwoodringsarethreesuchnon-keytraitswhichaffectwoodqualityofradiatapinetimberandarecurrentlyusedascullingtraitsinradiatapinebreedingprogramme.Economicimportanceofthesekeytraitsandnon-keytraitsis,however,difficulttodefineduetothelongrotationperiodofupto30years.

Inthispaperwecombinedtwomethods:robustselection[1];anddesired-gainselection[2].Weinvestigatedthebestwaytoincorporatenon-keytraitsintothebreedingprogrammeinamannerthatdealtwiththeuncertaintyoftheireconomicimportance.Desired-gainselectionisamethodthatselectscandidatesbasedonthetargetedgeneticgainsintheselectedtraits.Robustselectionisamethodthatexcludescandidatessensitivetothechangesineconomicweights.

Wefoundthattheexpectedgeneticgainsoftraitsintheproposedrobustdesired-gainindexwereallinafavourabledirection.Whenthenon-keytraitswerenotmeasuredandselected,theincidenceofinternalcheckingwasalwaysreducedbutthatofexternalresinbleedingandnumberofheartwoodringswasincreased.Weconcludedthatrobustdesiredgainindexisanefficientwayforselectingthekeyandnon-keytraitsinradiatapinebreedingprogrammeswhenlong-termeconomicimportanceisuncertain.

References[1]. Evison, D.C., & Apiolaza, L. A. (2014). Incorporating economic weights into radiata pine breeding selection decisions.

Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 45, 135–140.[2]. Yamada, Y., Yokouchi, K., & Nishida A. (1975). Selection index when genetic gains of individual traits are of primary concern.

The Japanese Journal of Genetics, 50, 33–41.

29

A B S T R A C T S – W E D N E S D A Y

KEYNOTE

GENOTYPE X ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION IN A LARGE MET ANALYSIS OF PINUS RADIATA

Brian Cullis1,AlisonSmith1,ChrisLisle1,PaulJefferson2

1 NIASRA, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.2 RPBC, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Thedevelopmentofefficientplantbreedingstrategiesrequiresaknowledgeofthemagnitudeandstructureofgenotypebyenvironmentinteraction.Thisinformationcanbeobtainedfromappropriatelinearmixedmodelanalysesofphenotypicdatafrommulti-environmenttrials.Theuseoffactoranalyticmodelsforgenotypebyenvironmenteffectsisknowntoprovideareliable,parsimoniousandholisticapproachforobtainingestimatesofgeneticcorrelationsbetweenallpairsoftrials.Whenbreedingforoutcrossingspeciesthefocusisonestimatingadditivegeneticcorrelationsandeffectswhichisachievedbyincluding pedigree information in the analysis.The use of factor analytic models in this setting may be computationallyprohibitive when the number of environments is moderate to large. In this talk we present an approach that uses anapproximatereducedanimalmodeltoovercomethecomputationalissuesassociatedwithfactoranalyticmodelsforadditivegenotype by environment effects.The approach is illustrated using two key traits from the RPBC Pinus radiata breedingprogram.Usingthisapproach,wedemonstratetheexistenceofsubstantialadditivegenotypebyenvironmentinteractionforthesetraitsanddemonstratehowwehaveimplementedthisinformationinadecisionsupporttool.

30


IDENTIFYING SITE TYPES FOR PINUS RADIATA GENETIC EVALUATION IN AUSTRALIA

Gregory Dutkowski1,MilosIvković2,WashingtonGapare2,DavidPilbeam1,PeterBuxton1

1 Southern Tree Breeding Association, Mount Gambier, Australia2 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australia

In“rolling front” breeding programs there is often low genetic connection between sites planted more than a few yearsapart.Forprogramwidegeneticevaluation,thereisprobablyenoughconnectednessbetweensitestoestimateunbiasedgenetic values for different site-types, if the site-types are well defined and the correlation between the site-types canbe estimated. Genotype by environment interaction (GxE) analysis methods which rely on (nearly) balanced treatmentrepresentationacrosssitesaredifficulttousewhenconnectionis lowandmayunnecessarilyrestrictthesamplingofthedifferentenvironmentsthatthesitesrepresent.Useofallpossiblesiteswithsufficientpair-wiseconnectionensuresabroadersamplingofenvironmentsandmayallowbettersite-typedefinition.Adatabaseofsite-site,trait-traitandage-agegeneticcorrelationswascreatedfromsinglesiteandpairedsiteanalysesofover60trials.AdditivecorrelationsforDBHatagesupto10yearsweremodelledwithtermstoaccountforage-ageandsite-typecorrelations.Errorwereweightedbythestandarderrorsoftheestimates,thenumberofestimatespersite,andthelasteigenvalueofthesite-typecorrelationmatrixtoensurepositivedefiniteness,whereneeded.Site-typeswereidentifiedbycheckingallpossiblecutoffvaluesofcontinuousvariables(orgroupsofcategoricalvariablelevels)oflongtermenvironmental(mostlyclimatic)valueswhichminimisedtheweightederrorsumofsquaresofthemodel.Site-typesbasedonadditivecorrelationswereidentifiedfromminimumtemperature,andthenrainfallwithincoolsites,andsuchaclassificationwasbetterthanthecurrentaprioriregionalsite-typegrouping.Geneticvalueslessconfoundedbypoorgroupingsofsitesshouldresult.

31


RELATIVE IMPACT OF MECHANICAL SITE PREPARATION AND STOCK IDEOTYPE ON SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF SOUTHERN PINE HYBRIDS AGED 15 YEARS

Mark Hunt1,BruceHogg2

1 ARC Centre for Forest Value, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia2 Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Gympie, Australia

Changestogeneticmaterial,sitepreparationequipmentandexpectationsaroundwaterandsoilmanagementcontinuetodrivechangesinstockproductionandplantestablishmentforforestplantationsinternationally.InQueensland,Australia,thishasparticularlybeenthecaseforwetsitesinthesubtropicalpineestatewherechangestodebrisretentionprescriptionssubstantiallyalteredsitepreparationoptionsatthesametimeasplantproductionmovedfromatraditionalbarerootseedlingsystemtohybridcontainercuttings.

DuringJanuary–June2000,alargefieldexperiment,23hainextent,wasestablishedonatypicalwetsitenearMaryborough,Queensland,inordertodeterminetherelativemerits(intermsofsurvivalandgrowth)offivemechanicalsitepreparationtechniquesandsixstockideotypes(incorporatingtaxonandproductionsystem)onasitewheretherecentdebrisretentionguidelineshadbeenimplemented.Thesitepreparationtreatmentswereimposedinasplit-splitplotdesignwiththestockideotypesusingmeasurementplotsof10rowsx16trees.

Analysisofrecent15-yeargrowthdata(ANOVA)returnednosignificantdifferencesbetweensitepreparationtreatmentsorinteractionsbetweensitepreparationandstockideotype.Howeverdifferencesbetweenstockideotypesweresignificant.F1 hydrid clones grown in containers outperformed all other stock ideotypes.Whilst site preparation treatment did notsignificantlyinfluencevolumeatage15itwasanimportantdeterminantofsurvivalatage1andagainage5,andthushasimplicationsfortheeconomicsoftheplantationproductionsystem.

32


INCREASED EFFICIENCY OF BREEDING VALUE PREDICTION OF SWEDISH NORWAY SPRUCE BREEDING PROGRAM BY SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND DISSECTING GENOTYPE BY ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

Zhiqiang Chen1,AndreasHelmersson2,BoKarlsson2,MatsBerlin3,JohanWestin4,HarryWu11 UPSC, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden2 Skogforsk, Ekebo 2250, SE-268 90, Sweden3 Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden4 Skogforsk, SE-751 83, Sävar, Sweden

Aims: To increase efficiency of breeding value prediction of Swedish Norway spruce breeding program by using spatialanalysisofmultiplesitesandbydissectingpatternsofgenotypebyenvironment(GxE)interactions.

Methods: Factoranalytical, reducedanimalmodel,andspatialanalysiswereused to improveestimationofvarianceandcovariancecomponents,heritability,andaccuracyofbreedingvalueprediction.Atotalof138fieldtrialsofSwedish-widewith457variableswereusedinthismeta-dataanalysesofNorwayspruce.

Results and Conclusion:Largetrialswithbigblockvariancetendstohavemoreimprovementfrombasetospatialmodel.Growthtraitsandpilodynmeasurementofwoodquality traitshowedhigher improvement in likelihoodthan formtraits.Spatialmodelwasmoreefficientthantraditionalmethodofpost-blockingforgrowthtraits.Heritabilitiesofdiameterandheightimproved26%and34.2%usingspatialmodel,respectively.However,nosignificantcompetitioneffectsinsingletreeplotscouldbedetectedforheightanddiameter.SubstantialadditiveGxE interactionsfortreeheightwerefoundacross-Swedenandtheirpatternswereanalysedwithgeographicalandclimateparameter.

33


GENOTYPE X SITE X SILVICULTURE INTERACTIONS IN RADIATA PINE: KNOWLEDGE, WORKING HYPOTHESES AND POINTERS FOR RESEARCH

Rowland Burdon


Favourableinteractionsbetweengenotype,siteandsilviculturearedesiredforgrowingradiatapine,siteandsilviculturebeingcomponentsofenvironment.Ourchallengeistocharacterisetheinteractionssotheycanbeexploitedtoadvantage.Fourclassesofinteractionareinvolved:threefirst-orderinteractionsbetweenthedifferentpairsoffactors,andthesecond-orderinteractioninvolvingallthreefactors.Also,theseinteractionsbelongtotwotypes,involving:rankchangesofgenotypes(RCinteraction),anddifferinglevelsofexpressionofgenotypicdifferences(LoEinteraction),amongenvironments.

Treebreeders’immediateconcerniswithhowinteractionsandmaineffectsofenvironmentaffectgenotypeperformance,yettheunderlying interest forresearchandpolicydecisions lies inhowenvironmentsandspecificenvironmental factorsgenerateinteractions.Betweenthetwomaintypesofinteraction,RCisseenastendingtobemoreimportantforbreedingoperationswithLoEseenastendingtobemoreimportantfordeploymentdecisions.

Existingknowledgeandexpectationsofinteractionsarereviewed,mostlyqualitatively,intermsofthecomparativeimportanceofRCandvaryingLoE.Thisisdoneforthefirst-orderinteractions,fordifferenttraits.Second-orderinteractionsarestillmainlyconjectural.Aframeworkisofferedforprogressivelyincorporatingbothinputfromothersandnewresearchfindings.

In radiata pine, growth traits, especially stem diameter, have shown marked RC interaction with site. For tree-form traits,andespeciallydiseaseresistance,LoEinteractioncanpredominate.Amongwoodpropertiesthepictureismixedandoftenunclear,someshowingverylittleinteraction,withothersshowingbothRCandLoEinteraction.

34


SIMULATING REALIZED GAIN TRIALS BY INCORPORATING HERITABLE MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS FROM DOUGLAS-FIR PROGENY TESTS INTO GROWTH MODELS

Sukhyun Joo1,DougMaguire1,BradSt.Clair2

1 Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management, College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States

2 USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, United States

Progenytestsworldwidehavebeendesignedtoidentifyfamiliesthatperformbestongivensitewithrespecttoearlygrowth,form,andwoodquality.Randominterspersionofseedlingsfromindividualfamiliesintheseprogenytestslimitstheirutilityforforecastingper-hayieldgainatrotationage.Regardless,genetictreeimprovementhasbeenrepresentedingrowthmodelsbyadjustingsiteindicesorapplyinggeneticgainmultiplierstogrowthequationsbasedonthisinformation.Becauseseedlotsdeployedoperationallyincludeasmallsubsetofthebestfamilies,forecastingstanddynamics,growth,andyieldresultingfrominteractionsoftheseuntestedfamilymixesisfraughtwithuncertainty.Realisedgaintrialshavebeenestablishedtohelpfillthisinformationgap.Theobjectiveofourstudywastosimulaterealisedgaintrialsbyidentifyingkeymechanismsexplainingdifferentialperformanceoffamiliesandincorporatingthemintogrowthmodels.GrowthequationsweredevelopedfromadetailedstudyofaDouglas-firprogenytest[1]byidentifyingmorphologicaltraitsthatwerehighlyheritableandstronglycorrelatedwithstemgrowth.Potentialpredictorcategories includedinitialtreesize,dryweightpartitioning, foliagemassandarea,growthefficiency,foliageattributes,branchcharacters,crownstructure,crownsize,stemformandwoodquality.Growthmodelscontainingafewbasicmechanismsallowedacceleratedexplorationofawidevarietyofrealisedgaintrials,providedearlyestimatesofexpectedyieldgains,andhelpedprioritisefamilymixesforfieldtesting,allaspartofastrategytodynamicallyintegrategenetictreeimprovementwithsilvicultureforyieldimprovement.

References[1]. St Clair, J. B. (1994). Genetic variation in tree structure and its relation to size in Douglas-fir. I. Biomass partitioning, foliage

efficiency, stem form, and wood density. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 24, 1226–1235.

35


INFLUENCE OF SITE FACTORS ON GROWTH AND PHYSIOLOGY OF PINUS RADIATA GENOTYPES, AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF SILVICULTURE ON TREE BREEDING TRIALS

Dean Meason1,MichaelBattaglia2,JodyBruce2,BarbaraHöck1,JianmingXue1,JuanRodríguezGamir1,PeterClinton1

1 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand2 CSIRO Agriculture and CSIRO Land and Water, Private Bag 12, Hobart 7001, Australia

Tree productivity at any given site is determined by fixed factors (e.g. soils), variable inputs (e.g. weather), the genotypeplanted,andsilvicultureapplied.Forestrymanagementpracticeshave traditionally focusedonhowaspeciesgrowsatasite,therealisedyieldwhichistheresultantofgeneticmaterial, inputs,andthegrowingconditionsduringthatparticularrotation.However,thesepracticesdonotevaluatethepotentialsiteyield,norwhatcanbedonetoclosethegapbetweenthepotentialandrealisedyield.Scion’sGrowingConfidenceinForestry’sFutureresearchprogramseekstounderstandtheproductivitydriversforPinus radiata(D.Don)anddefinethisgapbetweenrealisedandpotentialproductivityandthenexplorehowitcanbeclosed.Theprocess-basedmodelCABALAwasusedtomaptheproductivitygapforP. radiatathroughoutNewZealandandexploretheimplicationofrealisedyieldofdifferentsilviculturalpracticesandstocking.

Theresultsshowthattheproductivitygaptypicallyrangedbetween5%–30%.Crucially,thedriversofP. radiataproductivityarecomplexandvarywithlocation.Bothexperimentaldata,andmodellingscenarios,showedthatthephysiologicalresponsetoaproductivitydrivervarieswithgenotype.Theselectionofthewronggenotypecanleadtoapoorsiteperformance.Closingtheproductivitygaprequiresmorethangeneticimprovementalone.Captureofthegenotypebyenvironmentcomponentofthegapcanbefacilitatedthroughamechanisticunderstandingofsiteproductivitydriversleadingtotheselectionoftherightcombinationofthegenotypesandtargetedsilvicultureformaximumproductivity.

36


SILVICULTURAL VALUE OF PROGENY OF EUROPEAN BEECH PROVENANCES UNDER THE HABITAT CONDITIONS OF SOUTHERN POLAND

Szymon Jastrzębowski1,KrzysztofUkalski2,MarcinKlisz1,JoannaUkalska2,PawelPrzybylski1

1 Forest Research Institute, Poland 2 Warsaw University of Life Science, Poland

In2006StateForestsinPolandbegantheProgramforTestingForestReproductiveMaterial.Thetestsareconductedinordertoselectfamiliesandpopulationswiththebestadaptation,qualitativeandquantitativeproperties.ThefirsttestedspecieswastheEuropeanbeech.Aftertenyearsofgrowingoftheprogeniesofselectedseedstands,wemadeanattempttoanalysethesilviculturalvalueofEuropeanbeechprovenancesunderthehabitatconditionsoftheBeskidŻywieckiMountains.Theexperimentalsitebelongtooneoutof foursitesthatwereestablished in2006wasestablished inrandomizedcompleteblockdesign.Theaimofthisstudywastoanalysetheadaptivetrait(survival),growthparametersandmorphologicalfeaturesprogeniesof30selectedseedstandsofEuropeanbeechfromsouthernPoland.

Researchincludesthefollowingtraits:survivalrate;heightgrowth;adiameteratbreastheight;acanopyshape;straightnessofstem;apicaldominanceofleadingsprout;andtypeoffork.Theanalysisofvarianceforalinearmodelwasusedtodeterminevariability of examined traits between populations. Furthermore, correlation between qualitative and quantitative traits,assessmentofsilviculturalvalueanddependenceofexaminedcharacteristicsonthegeographiccoordinateswerecarriedout.

37


PROGRESS WITH THE ROLLING FRONT IN RADIATA PINE

Thomas McRae1,DavidPilbeam1,PeterBuxton1,GregoryDutkowski2,RichardKerr2

1 Southern Tree Breeding Association, Mount Gambier, Australia2 PlantPlan Genetics, Hobart, Australia

BreedingofradiatapineinAustraliabeganinthe1950swithplustreeselectionandtheestablishmentofseedorchardsbyvariouscompaniesandstateandfederalagencies.TheSTBAbreedingcooperative,establishedin1983inSouthAustralia,continuestoexpand,consolidatinggeneticresourcesonanationalbasis,providingcostefficienciesandenhancingtherateofgeneticgain.Thebreedingprogrammovedtoarollingfrontin2000,whereactivitiesaredoneonanannualbasis.Eachyear,parentsarecrossed,newprogenytrialsestablished,someexistingtrialsmeasured,newdataincorporatedintogeneticevaluations,andnewparentsselectedonthebasisoftheupdatedgeneticvalues.Priortothis,discretegenerationbreedingwasthenorm,withbreeding, testingandselection largelycompletedbeforethenextcyclebegan. Implementationofarollingfronthasnotbeenwithoutitschallenges.Dataaregeneratedontreesforarangeoftraitsassessedatdifferentagesindifferentyearsandatdifferentlocations.Thedegreeofgeneticlinkageacrosspreviouslyindependentprogramsalsovarieddependingonthenumberofparentsexchangedand/ortheamountofcollaborativetestingdoneovertime.Assessmentandmeasurementprotocolsalsochangedovertimeandvariedamongbreeders.Dataimbalanceandimperfectinformationisthenorm.Neverthelesstherollingfronthasresultedinefficienciesandtheauthorswillsharesomeoftheirexperiencesofthepast15years.Technicalchallengesandsolutionsformanagementofco-ancestrywillbediscussed,theoperationalbenefitsidentified,andimprovementsintherateofgeneticgainandreturnoninvestmenthighlighted.

38


SLASH × CARIBBEAN PINE HYBRID GENETIC IMPROVEMENT IN QUEENSLAND

Dominic Kain1,GregDutkowski2,PaulToon1,RodgerPeters1,RichardKerr2andIanLast11 HQPlantations Pty Ltd, Gympie, Queensland2 PlantPlan Genetics Pty Ltd, Hobart, Tasmania

TheslashxCaribbeanpinehybrid(Pinus elliottiivar.elliottii × Pinus caribaeavar.hondurensis)continuestogrowinimportanceinQueenslandforestry,demonstratingbroadadaptabilityacrosscoastalSouthEastandCentralQueensland.Forwardselectionandmatingareunderwaytoformasynthetichybridbreedingpopulation,supportedbysimulationandempiricalstudies,withinitialF3hybridfamiliesnowintrials.MultivariateBLUPisappliedtodatafromclonedandseedlingprogenytrials,andaneconomicbreedingobjective includingwoodqualitytraits isusedtomaximiseeconomicgainfromselectionsubjecttoconstraintsonrelatedness. Inorderof importance,keytraitsare:MAI;woodstiffness;stemstraightness;wind-firmness;crowndefecttraits;andspiralgrain.Standing-treeacousticvelocityatayoungageisstronglyrelatedtocorewoodstiffnessand is routinelyassessed forbreedingvalueprediction.Genetic relationshipsbetweenacousticvelocityandmeasuresofstem slenderness and straightness assist in predicting breeding values for wood quality and can reduce the expense ofdirect assessment. A Category 4/5 cyclone in February 2015 provided extensive genetic information about the geneticarchitectureofwind-firmnesstraits,whichisbeingappliedtoselection.Moleculargenetictoolshavebeenusedforpedigreereconstructionandotherusesarebeingexplored.

39


GENETIC EVALUATION OF SWEDISH SCOTS PINE BREEDING PROGRAM

Gunnar Jansson,TorgnyPersson,CurtAlmqvist,Karl-AndersHögberg,andGregDutkowski

Skogforsk (The Forestry Research Institute of Sweden), Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden.

GeneticevaluationoftheSwedishScotsPinebreedingprogramusesamultivariateBLUP(BestLinearUnbiasedPrediction)approachwhichintegratesallavailabledatabyusinginter-sitetype,inter-traitandinter-agecorrelations.Thisavoidsbiasesinpredictedvaluesduetoartificialornaturalselection(mortality)oncorrelatedtraits.AdatabaseofgeneticparametersisusedtomodelcorrelationsseparatelyfromtheBLUPevaluation.ThestrongprovenanceclineinnorthernSwedenisaccountedfor by dividing sites on latitude and site harshness, and defining provenances based on country, latitude and selectionhistory.Provenanceandprovenance-progenytrialsurvivalandheightdataareincludedtoovercomethenarrowprovenancerepresentation in routine progeny trials.The growth traits (survival, health, height and diameter) have different additivecorrelationson theharshandmildsitesand inter-latitudecorrelationshaveanauto-regressivedecaypattern.Estimationof variance components for survival data on the liability scale remains a challenge. Spatial analysis and data adjustmentisused todealwithhighwithinsiteenvironmentalheterogeneityand topseudo-normalise thedata.Highbetween-sitevarianceandheritabilityheterogeneityisaccountedforbystandardisingthedatabytheadditivegeneticvarianceforeachtraitineachtrial,andallowingaseparateerrorvariance.Correlationsbetweenfourgrowthandsixformandbranchingtraits,andLambethmodelage:agecorrelationsallowintegrationofalldata.Thelargestrunspredictgeneticvaluesfor124traitsfor535,000genotypes from41provenances.Theresultsshowreasonablecongruencewithexternallydevelopedtransferfunctions.Selectionsfordifferentsitetypesarederivedfromappropriateprovenancesandtrialsfromappropriateregionsandtheseshowincreasedgaincomparedtohistoricselectionsfromunivariateanalysisofgroupsoftrials.

40


OPTIMISING SELECTION IN TREE BREEDING WITH CONSTRAINTS ON RELATEDNESS AND OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY

Tim Mullin1,MakotoYamashita2,PietroBelotti3

1 Skogforsk (The Forestry Research Institute of Sweden), 224 rue du Grand Royal Est, Shefford, QC Canada2 Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-W8-29 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Japan3 Xpress Optimizer team, FICO, Starley Way, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Tree breeders often face the challenge of conserving genetic diversity, while at the same time maximising response toselection.Whenassemblingadvanced-generationbreedingpopulationsandseedorchards, theselectioncandidateswillthebestbreedingvaluesarequiteoftenbecloselyrelatedandselectingthemwithoutconsiderationoftheirrelatednesswillveryquicklyerodegeneticdiversity.Optimalselectionwillnotcompletelyavoidkinship,butrathermaximizegainwhileimposingaconstraintonaveragerelatedness.Whilethisprinciplehaslongbeenrecognisedbybreedersthrough“rule-of-thumb”approachestoselection,mathematicalapproachestotrulyoptimiseselectiononlyfirstappearedinbreedinginthelate1990s.Wehaveadvancedtheuseofmathematicalprogrammingtooptimiseselectionusingstate-of-the-artapproachessuchasMixed-IntegerQuadraticallyConstrainedOptimization(MIQCO),SemidefiniteProgramming(SDP)andSecond-OrderConeProgramming(SOCP).Thesemoreadvancedtechniquescansatisfyconstraintsonrelatednesswhilefindingthetrulyoptimum selected population under a variety of operational constraints. A breeder-friendly tool known as OPSEL (www.skogforsk.se\opsel)isnowpublicallyavailableandmakesitpossiblefortreebreederstoapplythesetechniquesinawaythatissimpleandflexible.Variousexamplesarepresentedandthefutureofmathematicalprogrammingtooptimiseselectioninoperationalbreedingisdiscussed.

41


BREEDING TO IMPROVE FOLIAR OIL YIELDS IN EUCALYPTUS POLYBRACTEA

John Doran1,DavidBush1andRichardDavis21 Australian Tree Seed Centre, CSIRO NRCA, Black Mountain ACT 2601. Australia 2 G.R. Davis Pty Ltd, PO Box 170, Queanbeyan NSW 2620. Australia

Aims:Eucalyptus polybractea(bluemallee)istheprimarysourceof1,8-cineole–rich,medicinalgradeeucalyptusoilinAustralia.WestWyalong,NSWisakeyproductioncentre.Thecompanyinvolvedistransitioningfromoilproductionfromcoppicednaturalstandstoplantations.Tofurtherimproveproductionefficienciesfromthisnotoriouslyphenotypicallyvariablespecies,thiscompanycommencedamodesttreebreedingprogramin2009.Estimatedgeneticparametersinformingselectionandbreedingstrategyforthisprogramaregivenhere.

Methods:Treeheight,leafinessscore,concentrationof1,8-cineoleandtotaloilandpercentageof1,8-cineolewereassessedinasix-year-oldprovenance-progenytrialcomprising41familiesfromsixprovenancesThirty-eightfamilieswerephenotypicselections(oilyieldandcineole%)fromnaturalstandssurroundingWestWyalong,whilethreefamilieswerefromaclonalseedorchardestablishedinthe1990s.

Results:Whileprovenancevariationwasnotsignificant,variationamongfamilieswasobservedforalltraits.Narrow-senseheritabilitiesrangedfromlowforgrowthtraitstomoderate-highforoiltraits.Adversegenetictrait-traitcorrelationsbetweengrowthandoiltraitswerenotfound.Predictedgeneticgaininoilconcentrationfrominitialcullingofalltreeswithbelowaverageoilyieldstocreateaseedlingseedorchardwasestimatedtobe22%.

Conclusions:Moderate-highheritabilityofoiltraitsandapparentlackofadversegeneticcorrelationsbetweengrowthandoil-relatedtraitsaugerwell forthegenetic improvementofthisspecies.Furtherworkonthegeneticvariationofcoppicesurvivalandoptimisinginteractionbetweensilvicultureandgeneticsincreasethescopeforongoingefficiencies.

42


GENETIC CONTROL OF GROWTH STRAIN IN EUCALYPTUS BOSISTONANA: VERY EARLY SCREENING OF A LEFT-CENSORED TRAIT

Nicolas Davies,LuisApiolazaandMonikaSharma

New Zealand School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand

Recently,breedingprogrammesforcommercialtimberhaveexpandedtheirscope,includingwoodqualityatthesame,orhigher,priorityasgrowth.Ineucalypts,growthstrainisamajorbarriertomillingforhighqualityproducts.Assessinggrowthstrainhasbeentootimeconsumingandexpensivetoincorporateintobreedingprogrammesuntilrecently.ChauhanandEntwistle[1]developedthesplittingtest,afastandcheapmethodforevaluatinggrowthstrainatanearlyage(~2years).

Thesplittingtestinvolvestakingastraightclear-woodsectionofstemandsplittingitalongthepith,resultinginmovementofthetwohalves.Testingassumesperipheralcontractionresultinginthetwohalvesmovingapart.Inpractice,closingoccurswherethetrueopeningisnegative;however,thetest’sdetectionlimitiszeroopening,causingazeroinflated(censored)dataset.

Dataanalysishas toaccount for the left-censoring,otherwiseparametersarepoorlyestimated.Removingcensoreddataprovides an observation bias in the remaining dataset so is undesirable. Bayesian frameworks allow for the treatment ofcensoreddataviasimulationoftheunknowndatapointscomingfromapriordistribution.Bysamplingtheseunknowndatapointsasignificantnumberoftimesthetruedistributioncanbeestimated,evenbelowthedetectionlimit.

Bayesiansimulationsappliedtoleft-censoredgrowthstrainmeasurementsofEucalyptus bosistonanawereusedtoestimatetheheritabilityofgrowthstrainaspartofabreedingtrialfocusingonimprovingsolidwoodquality.

References[1]. Chauhan, S., & Entwistle, K. (2010). Measurement of surface growth stress in Eucalyptus nitens Maiden by splitting a log

along its axis. Holzforschung, 64, 267–272.

43


APPLYING EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN IN SWEDISH FOREST TREE GENETICS TRIALS

JohanWestin1,AndreasHelmersson1,Richard Kerr2,GregoryDutkowski2,HarryWu3

1 Skogforsk, Umea, Sweden2 PlantPlan Genetics, Hobart, Australia3 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umea, Sweden

UseofthecompletelyrandomiseddesignisthecurrentexperimentaldesignstrategyusedbySkogforskandwasdevelopedin response to operational restrictions preventing more complex designs being used. It has been suggested that morecomplexdesigns shouldbeused to reduce residualerrorand increase theaccuracyofgeneticevaluation.Simulationofprogenyfieldtrialshasbeenusedtoinvestigatethevalidityofthisproposition. Inordertoobtainasetofparametersforsimulatingrealistictrialdata,asurveyofactualSkogforskprogenytrialswasundertaken.Thesurveyrevealedthatmediumtostronglocaltrendsweregenerallyevidentwhenanalysingtraitssuchasdiameter,height,vitalityandsurvival.Localtrendsaredefinedbylocalpatchesofwithin-site,non-randomvariationandarefittedstatisticallyusinganAR1process.FittinganAR1processgenerally ledtoalldesigneffectvariancesshrinkingtozero.Thesimulationconfirmedthatspatialanalysis isabletoadequatelycorrectfornon-randomwithin-sitevariationtypicalforSwedishprogenytrialsites,andevenforvariationmoreextremethanthattypicallyobservedinSweden.Useofdifferentexperimentaldesignshadminimaleffectonwhetherpredictionofbreedingvaluesandestimationof(co)variancescouldbemademoreaccurateandprecise.ItisconcludedthatthecurrentstrategyusedbySkogforskisreasonableinthesensethatmorecomplexdesignsmaynotenhancegeneticgainwhenspatialand individual treemodelsareused.However, thesimulation testedonlywithin-site,non-randomvariationthatconformedtoaspatialprocess.Moreresearchiswarrantedthatextendstherangeandtypesofvariationthatcouldbeobservedinworldforestry.

44


SCREENING FOR RED NEEDLE CAST RESISTANCE IN RADIATA PINE

Natalie Graham,NariWilliams,MariSuontama,MartinBader,YongjunLi,HeidiDungey1

1Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand

Phytophthoraspeciesarerecognisedascausalagentsfornumerousforestandtree-cropdiseases.InNewZealand,themostwidelyplantedforesttreespecies,Pinus radiataD.Don(radiatapine),isaffectedbyredneedlecast(RNC)causedbytheaerialpathogenPhytophthora pluvialis[1].RecentworkinradiatapinehasindicatedageneticcomponentforresistancetoRNC[2].However,environmentalfactorscanimpacttheassessmentofdisease,withthepresence/absenceorevenseverityofdiseasevaryingwithinandamongsites.Furthermore, thegeographicaldistributionofestablishedgenetictrialsdoesnotalwaysalignwithareasofhighdiseasepressure.Theselimitationsimpedetheaccuracyandlevelofextrapolationpermissiblein phenotyping disease responses, thus a more systematic and reliable system for quantifying resistance is required forresistancescreening.Wedescribeaninvitroassaysystem,usingdetachedneedles,thathasbeendevelopedtodifferentiateresistanceresponsesbetweengenotypesinacontrolledenvironment,andreportonestimatedheritabilitiesforthistraitinastructuredradiatapinepopulation.

References[1]. Dick, M. A., Williams, N. M., Bader, M. K-F., Gardner, J. F., & Bulman, L.S. (2014). Pathogenicity of Phytophthora pluvialis to Pinus

radiata and its relation with red needle cast disease in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 44:6. [2]. Dungey, H., Williams, N., Low, C., & Stovold, G. (2014). First evidence of genetic-based tolerance to red needle cast caused by

Phytophthora pluvialis in radiata pine. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 44:31.

45


PRODUCING FORESTS FOR THE FUTURE CLIMATE

Simeon Smaill1,HeidiDungey2

1Scion, Christchurch, New Zealand2Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand

SimulationssuggestthatCO2concentrationsof500ppmandameantemperatureincreaseof1oCwillbereachedby2049inNewZealand,associatedwith increased frequenciesofdroughtandstrongstormevents [1].While thesechangeswilldirectlyimpactontheplantedforestestate,theywillalsoaffectthenumerousbioticandabioticprocessesthatunderpinproductive forestry in New Zealand. Given the potential significance of these indirect effects on forest productivity andresilience,areviewwasundertakentobetterunderstandhowclimatedrivenchangesinthesesupportingprocessescouldaffectforestperformance,andtheopportunitiestoutilisetreebreedingprogrammestomaximiseanybeneficialeffectswhilereducingnegativeconsequences.Keypotentialbenefits identifiedwerethepotential forwarmerconditions tostimulatenutrientavailabilitybyenhancingratesofsoilmicrobialactivity,andgreateraccesstosoilresourcesduetotheresponseofmycorrhizalsymbiontstoelevatedCO2concentrations[2].Negativeeffectsincludedmoreperiodicreductionsinresourceavailabilitywithmoredroughtsandgreatertopsoilerosionwithmorefrequentstorms,reducingnutrientpools.Insectpestsandpathogenicmicrobeswillbemoreactive,as increasedtemperaturesupportssurvivalthroughwinter,a longeractiveperiod,andthepotentialforchangesintheeffectivegeographicrangesofinsectandpathogen,whileanyincreasedstressonplantswill increasetheirsusceptibilitytoattack.Giventheserisks,wesuggestthatbreedingprogrammeswhichfocusonflexibility–sacrificingsomegrowthforthemaintenanceofnutrientreservesandincreasedhealth–shouldbestronglyconsidered.

References[1]. Reisinger, A., Mullan, B., Manning, M., Wratt, D., & Nottage, R. (2010). Global and local climate change scenarios to support

adaptation in New Zealand. In R. A. C. Nottage, D. S. Wratt, J. F. Bornman, and K. Jones (Eds.), Climate Change Adaptation in New Zealand: Future Scenarios and Some Sectoral Perspectives, pp. 26–43. New Zealand Climate Change Centre, Wellington, New Zealand.

[2]. Orwin, K. H., Stevenson, B. A., Smaill, S. J., Kirschbaum, M. U. F., Dickie, I. A., Clothier, B. E., Garrett, L. G., van der Weerden, T. J., Beare, M. H., Curtin, D., de Klein, C. A. M., Dodd, M. B., Gentile, R., Hedley, C., Mullan, B., Shepherd, M., Wakelin, S. A., Bell, N., Bowatte, S., Davis, M. R., Dominati, E., O’Callaghan, M., Parfitt, R. L., & Thomas, S. M. (2015). Effects of climate change on the delivery of soil-mediated ecosystem services within the primary sector in temperate ecosystems: a review and New Zealand case study. Global Change Biology, 21, 2844–2860.

46

A B S T R A C T S – W E D N E S D A YNOTES

47

A B S T R A C T S – T H U R S D A Y

KEYNOTE

GENOMIC SELECTION IN TROPICAL EUCALYPTUS BREEDING: ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES

Dario Grattapaglia1,2

1 EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology – Estação Parque Biológico, 70770-910, Brasilia, DF 2 Genomic Science Program – Universidade Católica de Brasília, SGAN 916 Modulo A, 70790-160, Brasilia, DF

Twenty-fiveyearsof forest treegenomics researchhavegoneby.Despite importantadvances,MarkerAssistedSelection(MAS)hasnotmadeityet intooperationaltreebreeding.Reasons includethe limitationsofearlygenomictechnologies,thegeneticheterogeneityofundomesticatedtreesbutmainlytheoveroptimisticviewofthearchitectureofcomplextraits.TheadventofhighthroughputgenotypingtechnologiescoupledtoGenomicSelection(GS)provideanewparadigmtointegrate genomics into breeding. By fitting thousands of genome-wide markers concurrently in predictive models, GScapturesmostofthegenome-wideeffectsthatlinkageandassociationmappingclassicallyfailtodetect.ThepublicationoftheEucalyptusgenomeallowedustodevelopamulti-speciesSNPgenotypingchipthatprovideshighdensitygenotypingforall‘BigTen’Eucalyptusspecies.UsingthisgenotypingplatforminanumberofbreedingprogramsinBrazil,wehaveshownthatGSaccuraciescanmatchorsurpassphenotypicselectionforgrowthandwoodqualitytraits.GSmaysignificantlyreducethelengthofabreedingcyclebyultra-earlyselectionofgenomicallymulti-traitrankedseedlings,precludingprogenytrials.Nevertheless,sincepredictiveabilitiesareimpactedbyGxEanddrivenmainlybyrelatednessbetween‘training’and‘validation’populations,population-specificpredictivemodelswillbeneeded.GSbringsanewperspectivetotheunderstandingofquantitativetraitvariationinforesttreesandshallmakegenomicsfinallyfinditswayintoappliedbreeding.StrategicandlogisticsaspectsfortheadoptionofGSarenowthechallengesfacedtofullyintegratethisnewbreedingtechnologyintoroutinetreeimprovement.

48


FIRST EVALUATION OF GENOMIC SELECTION FOR RADIATA PINE

Emily Telfer1,YongjunLi1,JaroslavKlapste1,LucyMacdonald2,NatalieGraham1,PhillipWilcox3andHeidiDungey1

1 Forest Genetics, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand2 Forest Industry Informatics, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand3 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

The New Zealand Radiata Pine Breeding Company is testing genomic selection for the potential to rapidly increase thedeliveryofgeneticgain.Recentdeploymentscenarioanalysessuggestpotential increases ingeneticgaincouldbe80%orhigher.Inthispaperwedescribethedevelopmentofthegenotypingassayandtrainingpopulations,thefirstgenomicestimatedbreedingvalues(GeBVs)andlessonslearnedsofar.

The program chose an exome capture genotype-by-sequencing (GBS) [1] assay platform that has been developed incollaboration with Rapid Genomics LLC. The first training population being tested is based on two clonal trial seriesestablishedacrossmultiplesites.Fromthisinitialpopulation,weexpectthefirstGeBVswithassociatedaccuraciesforgrowth,wooddensity,stiffnessandformtraitswillbeavailablein2016.WereportprogressintheestimationofGeBVsusingmethodsdevelopedspecificallyforalternativeGBSdatasets[2],[3]andcompareaccuracywithmorecommonlyusedmethodologies[4].WealsoreportonpipelinesusedtofilterandcleanexomecaptureGBSdatasets.Finally,wedescribeplanstoexpandthetrainingpopulation,assessnewtraitsinradiatapineandstrategiestoapplygenomicselectioninradiatapinebreedinganddeployment.

References[1]. Neves, L. G., Davis, J. M., Barbazuk, W. B., & Kirst, M. (2013). Whole-exome targeted sequencing of the uncharacterized pine

genome. Plant Journal, 75, 146–156.[2]. Elshire, R. J., Glaubitz, J. C., Sun, Q., Poland, J. A., Kawamoto, K., Buckler, E. S., & Mitchell, S. E. (2011). A robust, simple

genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach for high diversity species. PLoS ONE, 6(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019379 .[3]. Dodds, K. G., McEwan, J. C., Brauning, R., Anderson, R. M., van Stijn, T. C., Kristjánsson, T., & Clarke, S. M. (2015). Construction of

relatedness matrices using genotyping-by-sequencing data. bioRxiv. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/025379[4]. Lourenco, D. A., Lourenco, D. A., Tsuruta, S., Fragomeni, B. O., Masuda, Y., Aguilar, I., Legarra, A., Bertrand, J. K., Amen, T. S.,

Wang, L., Moser, D. W., & Misztal, I. (2015). Genetic evaluation using single-step genomic best linear unbiased predictor in American Angus. Journal of Animal Science, 93, 2653–2662.

49


KEYNOTE

PHENOTYPING PLANTS IN VARIABLE AND HETEROGENEOUS ENVIRONMENT - INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO MECHANISTIC, HIGH-THROUGHPUT AND FIELD PHENOTYPING

Ulrich Schurr

Forschungszentrum Jülich, IBG-2: Plant Sciences, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Plantphenotypingdevelopsrapidlyintoabottleneckforprogressinbasicandappliedresearch.Lackofadequatesolutionsforquantitativeanalysisofplantarchitectureandfunctionaswellastheirinteractionwiththedynamicandheterogeneousenvironment hampers progress in basic sciences as well as in breeding-related research. In recent years significantinterdisciplinary approaches have been started to overcome this“phenotyping bottleneck”.Techniques were developedtoquantify thedynamicsand theheterogeneityofplant structureand functionaswell asofenvironmental cues.Thesemostly non-invasive technologies are developed and implemented into biological concepts that allow novel insights inthedynamiccharacteristicsofplantsabove-aswellasbelowground.Thetechnologiesincludehigh-resolutionanalysisformechanisticunderstanding(likeMRIandPETforstructure,growthandactivityofrootsandshoots),thehigh-throughputapproachforanalysisoflargenumbersofgenotypesandenvironmentalconditionsaswellasfieldapproaches,whicharethereferencetoindicatetherelevance.Thetalkwillprovideanoverviewonrecentdevelopmentsintechnologiesaswellasconceptualapproachesasthebasisforaquantitativeunderstandingofplant-environment-dynamicsanditsapplicationforplantbreedingandplantmanagement.ThetalkwillalsopresentrecentdevelopmentsininfrastructureplatformsthathavebeenandwillbeestablishedinGermany,inEuropeandglobally.

50


KEYNOTE

THE USE OF LIDAR FOR PHENOTYPING

David Pont1,HeidiDungey1,MichaelWatt2,JustinMorgenroth3,GraemeStovold1

1 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand2 Scion, Christchurch, New Zealand, 3 University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Remotesensingmethodstocharacteriseindividualtreescouldallowcost-effectivephenotypingofgeneticstrialsandevenwholeforests[1].Weaimedtodevelopandevaluatenovelmethodsforusingairbornelaserscanning(ALS)datatophenotypeindividualtreesintermsofkeytraits:treesize,stemform,woodqualityanddiseaseresistance.

DiscretereturnALSdatawereacquiredoveraradiatapine(Pinus radiata)geneticstrialintheNorthIslandofNewZealand.Conventional intensive ground-based phenotyping of trial trees included the following variables: tree height, DBH,straightness,malformation,branchclusterfrequency,basicdensity,stiffness,anddegreeofDothistromainfection.

IndividualtreesweredetectedintheALSusingrecentlydevelopedmethods[2].AsetofcrownmetricswerederivedfromtheALSforuseinestimatingtreetraits.VariancecomponentsestimatedbyASReml-Rwereusedtodeterminenarrowsenseheritabilities, breeding values, and genetic gains for all traits.We then compared the ground-based and remote sensingphenotypingmethodologies.

Heritabilities and genetic gains were consistently higher from on-ground measurements. Errors on estimates of geneticparameters and genetic gains from remote sensing were acceptable for operational use for the tree size traits: height,diameterandstemvolume.ResultssupporttheuseofALSdataforphenotypingtreesizetraitsandindicatepotentialtoquantifydiseaseexpression.FurtherresearchissuggestedtoquantifythecosteffectivenessofusingALSforphenotyping,andtodevelopmethodstophenotypestemformandwoodqualitytraits,includingtheuseofemergingformsofremotesensing.

References[1]. Scion. (2014). Growing Confidence in Forestry’s Future: Research Programme 2013-2019. Rotorua, New Zealand.[2]. Pont, D., Kimberley, M. O., Brownlie, R. K., Sabatia, C. O., & Watt, M. S. (2015). Calibrated tree counting on remotely sensed

images of planted forests. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 36, 3819–3836.

51


LIDAR UPDATE: IMPROVEMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN USING DATA-RICH POINT CLOUDS FOR FOREST MONITORING

David Herries

Interpine Group Ltd, Rotorua, New Zealand

Conventionalforestinventoryandmonitoringmethodsinvolvetheinstallationofsufficientgroundbasedsampleplots,onarandomorsystematicbasis,toestimaterequiredstandvariableswithinpredefinederrorlimits.Thissamemethodhasbeenappliedtoforestbreedingandproductivitytrials.Thesemethodsarelabourintensive,costly,andlimitedintheirwidescaleapplication.

Airbornelaserscanning(ALS)hasbeenwidelyappliedtoimproveinventoryprecision.ALSsystemsareactiveremotesensingsystemsthatmakeuseof lightdetectionandranging(LiDAR)technologytogeneratedensepointcloudsthat representthree dimensional forest canopy structure. Recent changes in sensor technology is clearly evident from wide scale datacaptureoverforestedareasthroughout2015inbothNewZealandandAustralia.Thesedatasetshaveresultedindatarichpointcloudswhereindividualtreesarefargreaterdefined.ThisenhanceddetailcouldopenthepossibilityfordevelopmentofnovelLiDARmetrics thatcanmoreaccuratelycharacterise featuressuchasbranchingpatternsandthepercentageofstructuralgrade,thatwerenotpossibleinthepast.ThericherlevelofdetailavailablefromnewersensorscombinedwiththeabilitytostorethefullLiDARwaveformwarrantsare-examinationofhowmuchcouldbegainedthroughanalysesusingthefullwaveformandindividualtreedata,andlookstoimprovethewaywemonitorforestproductivityforanalysisinbreedingproductiveandresilientforests.

52

A B S T R A C T S – T H U R S D A YNOTES

53

A B S T R A C T S – F R I D A Y

KEYNOTE

GENOMICS IN ACTION IN SHEEP FOR ACCELERATED GAINS

John McEwan,KenDodds,RudigerBrauning,SuzanneRowe,ShannonClarke

AgResearch, Mosgiel, New Zealand

Use of molecular information in New Zealand sheep breeding became widespread 15 years ago with adoption of DNA“mixandmatch”parentagetestingcoupledwithsinglegenetestsincludingthoseaffectingfertilityandcarcassmuscling.An international effort to sequence the genome and create high density SNP chips suitable for genomic selection thencommencedadecadeagoandresultedintheintroductionofgenomicselectioninNewZealandfiveyearsago.Thishasexpandedintoamonthlyacrossflockandbreednationalgenomicevaluationformorethan20traitsinselectedmaternalbreeds and crosses. A similar development programme is underway in terminal breeds and includes meat quality traits.Research isalsounderway intousinggenomics toselectanimals thatemit lessmethaneandthishas renewedfocusonkey inputtraitssuchasfeedefficiency.Whileasignificantfractionoftheindustryusesthistechnology,thecostcurrentlylimitsitsusetoeliteramlambsviatwostageselectionandalsodependsonimputationfromlowerdensitychips.Currentresearchisnowfocussedonreducingthecostofgenotypingviatheuseofgenotypingbysequencing.Thetargetoutcomeisparentage,breedprediction,co-ancestryandgenomicselectionfortheequivalentofthecurrentcostofDNAparentagesothatitwillbecomesaroutinemeasurementforallanimalsinrambreedingflocks.

54


ADVANCED GENERATION TREE BREEDING: CHALENGES AND OPPORTUNITES

Harry Wu1,2

1Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences, Umeå, Sweden2National Collection Research Australia, Canberra, Australia

Manytreebreedingprogramsworldwidehaveenteredintosecondandthirdgeneration(cycle)withradiataandloblollypineinthefourthgeneration(cycle).Therearemanychallengestofurtheradvancetheseprogramsinascientificallyoptimalway.Managinginbreedingdepressionandgeneticgain,andcopingwithadversegeneticcorrelationbetweengrowthandwoodqualitytraitsareamongthetwomajorscientificchallenges.

We have conducted several empirical and simulation studies to develop optimal breeding strategy to manage thesechallenges.Empiricalstudiesinclude:(1)along-terminbreedingexperiment;and(2)aquantitativegeneticsurveyofgeneticcorrelationbetweengrowthandwoodquality traits in radiata,Scotsand lodgepolepines,andNorwayspruce.Genomicallelicmodelswereestablishedtoexamineoptimalbreedingmethodstomanageinbreedingdepressionandgeneticgain,andtocopewithadversegeneticcorrelation.

Results indicate that: (1) medium to high adverse genetic correlation from -0.3 to -0.7 were observed among pines andspruce; (2)a singlebreedingpopulationwasmore favorable thanmultiplebreedingpopulations incopingwithadversegeneticcorrelation; (3) inbreeding-crossbreedingwasonlyeffective inshort-term; (4)singlebreedingpopulationofmassselectionandnucleusbreedingstrategieswerefavorablefor long-termtreebreedinginbalancinginbreedingdepressionandgeneticgain;and(5)genomicinformationfromGWASinpineandspruceareenhancingourunderstandingofgeneticarchitectureofquantitativetraitsandourstudyofoptimalbreedingstrategy.

55


TOWARDS GENOMIC SELECTION FOR WOOD PROPERTIES IN EUCALYPTUS NITENS

Mari Suontama,JaroslavKlapste,TobyStovold,EmilyTelfer,NatalieGraham,RussellMcKinley,CharlieLow,HeidiDungey


TheaimofthisstudywastoinvestigatepossibilitiestoimprovewoodpropertiesforsolidwoodproductsintheNewZealandbreedingprogrammeofEucalyptus nitensusingbothphenotypicandgenotypicinformation.Asecondaryobjectivewastomakeforwardselectionandestablishaseed-orchardspecificallyforsolidwoodproduction.

Previousstudiesshowedmoderateheritabilityestimatesforgrowthstress,shrinkageanddensityindicatingthatconsiderablegeneticgainsmightbeachievedthroughgeneticimprovementofthesetraits.Weassessed750treesfromathirdgenerationopen-pollinatedprogenytrialintheSouthIslandofNewZealandforgrowthstress,woodshrinkage,collapsemeasurement,internalcheckingandwooddensityatageseven.LeafsamplesforDNAextractionwerealsocollectedatthesametime.Theprogenytrial,comprising3600treeswasphenotypedforgrowthandformatagesix.Geneticparametersandbreedingvalueswereestimatedusingspatialindividualtreemodelsusingmodelsappropriateforopen-pollinatedprogenywithASReml–R(Butleretal.2009).IndividualtreesphenotypedforwoodpropertieswerealsogenotypedusingtheEuCHIP60K(SilvaJunioretal.2015).Themarkerbasedrelationshipmatrixwasconstructedandusedtoestimategenomicbreedingvalues(GEBVs)withindividualtreemixedmodelimplementedintheASReml-Rpackage.

Markerdatafromthe60kEucSNPchipwasusedtocomparetheaccuracyofpedigree-basedestimationsofbreedingvaluesandgenomicbreedingvalues.Wediscussthe implicationsfortheE.nitensbreedingprogrammeandtheuseofmarker-basedtechnologiesforuseinsimilardiscreteopen-pollinatedbreedingpopulations.

56


KEYNOTE

GENE DISCOVERY THROUGH GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES

G. A. Tuskan1,W.Muchero1,S.P.DiFazio2,D.Jacobson1,T.J.Tschaplinski1andJ.-G.Chen1

1 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA2 West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are designed to statistically link phenotypes to genes and ultimately genes tofunctions. Stated in a more quixotic manner, GWAS connects“sequence to consequence”. There are multiple phases inthisprocess,eachwiththeirownsetofrequirementsandapproaches,whichtheneachvarybasedonthebiology[i.e.,lifehistory,genomecomplexity,evolutionaryhistory,etc.]ofthecandidateorganism.Thethreemainphasesinthe“sequencetoconsequence”paradigmare:Discovery,ValidationandDeployment.DuringDiscoverydecisionsregarding:1)selectionofa testpopulation/panel;2)genotypingplatform/technology;3) targetedphenotypes;and4)associationmethods/tacticshavetobemadebasedonknownorassumedbiologyofthecandidateorganism.Thepotentialtestpopulation/panelcanvaryinitsinheritedgeneticstructure,degreeofrelatednessandreproductivehistory.Thechoiceofresequencing,genotype-by-sequencing or chip-based genotyping each create advantages and disadvantages in the implementation of GWASapproaches and interpretation.The initial identification of the targeted, economically important phenotypes also affectsthefinalinterpretationanddeploymentoftheGWASresults.High-throughputversushigh-precessionversushigh-accuracymeasurements generate tangible tradeoffs in the discovery of initial GWAS associations. Finally, during Discovery phasedecisionsofalternateassociationapproaches,adjustmentsforkinship,adjustmentsforpopulationstructureandmethodsforcontrollingtypeIIerrorimpacttheinterpretationofGWASresults.AfterDiscoveryrationaldecisionsonValidationapproachesneedtobemade,includingthechoiceofindependentpopulation/panelversustransientassays,heterologoustransgenicsand/orstabletransgenics.IfValidationisapproachedthroughindependentGWAStestinginanalternatepopulation/panelthen thevalidationpopulation’sgenetic structure, reproductivebiologyandevolutionaryhistoryneed tobeconsidered.Forsomephenotypes,Validationcanoccurthroughtransientexpressionassays,butthis isdependentonthephenotypeandavailabilityofinformativereportergenes.Heterologousand/orstabletransgenicscanbeusedtoValidateGWASresults,thoughtheseare limitedtoanalogousphenotypesandknown[orunknown]epistaticandpleiotropiceffects inthecaseofheterologoustransgenes,andavailabilityofreliabletransformationsystemsinthecandidateorganismandphenotypicontology in the case of stable transgenes. As validated results are obtained, translational Deployment can occur viapropagationofstabletransgenicsinsingleorstackedgenelinesand/orviamarker-basedbreedingintegratedintotraditionalprogenytesting.Examplesofeachoftheabovephasesand“sequencetoconsequence”outcomeswillbepresentedbasedonresultsfromasix-year-oldPopulus trichocarparange-wide,multi-year,multipletestsiteGWASanalyses.

57


INTEGRATED PHENOTYPING: BRINGING TOGETHER QUANTITATIVE DATA FROM ACROSS DISCIPLINES FOR MORE INFORMED PLANT BREEDING

Nari Williams1,NatalieGraham2,EmilyTelfer2,RebeccaMcDougal1,LauraRaymond3,PeterScott1,StefanHill3,CathyHargreaves2,RebeccaGanley1,HeidiDungey2

1 Forest Protection, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand 2 Forest Genetics, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand 3 Biopolymers and Chemicals, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand

Phytophthorapathogenshavethepotentialtodevastateentireindustrieswithnewincursionsthroughincreasingglobalisation.InNewZealand,ourconservation,forestryandhorticulturaltreeestatesareallimpactedbyPhytophthoraspecies.OfparticularnotearePhytophthora pluvialis,causalagentofredneedlecastinPinus radiata(radiatapine),Phytophthora agathadicida whichiscausingseverediseaseinanativetreespecies,Agathis australis(kauri),andPhytophthora cactorumwhichhaslongcausedcollarrotinMalus domestica (apple).Quantitativemethodsofassessingdiseaseimpactsusuallyrelyonthepresenceofthediseaseinestablishedfieldtrials.However,asdiseaseexpressionistheresultofhost,pathogenandenvironmentalfactorsfieldbasedphenotypicdata isoftenconfoundedwhichimpeedesourabilitytoaccuratelyphenotypediseaseresponses.Furthermore,thegeographicaldistributionofestablishedtrialsdoesnotalwaysreflectthatofthedisease.

Togetaroundtheselimitations,weareapplyingamodern‘omics’basedsystemsbiologyapproachtophenotypetrees.Thisis enabling quantitative assessments at the genetic, metabolic and physiological levels to be integrated with traditionalpathology, histological and field based disease quantification. Bringing each of these disciplines together is providing apowerfulplatformforbetterunderstandinghost-pathogen interactions,plantresistanceandthemechanismsunderlyingresistanceobserved inthefield.Themultidisciplinarynatureofourapproachhasbeenakeychallengebut it isenablingustodeveloparobustphenomicplatformfor identifyingbroadresistancetoanever increasingnumberofPhytophthora biosecuritythreats.OurintegrationmodelandphenomicplatformwillbepresentedanddiscussedinreferencetoprogressinidentifyingresistancetoPhytophthorapathogensinradiatapine,kauriandapple.

58


SUCCESSFUL CLONAL FORESTRY WITH RADIATA PINE IN NEW ZEALAND

Michael Carson,SusanCarson

Forest Genetics Ltd, Rotorua, New Zealand

Wemanageoneofthefewsuccessfulclonalprogrammeswithpines,builton60yearsofR&Dinbreedingandpropagation. Itrequires clear strategic vision, rigorous prioritisation of goals, and attention to risk and cost management. Since clonesrepresent a new paradigm, we needed to confront new technical challenges, and some entrenched views. Successfulmarketing of clonal treestocks requires an intimate understanding of client objectives, site and silvicultural interactions,andtheabilitytodemonstrateandvalidategainsontheclient’sestate.Closerintegrationwithclientsprovidesadditionalopportunitiesforrealisinggain,through:

• tracking clonalperformanceintoplantations• matchinggenotypestositeconditionsandeconomicobjectives,and• respondingmuchmorerapidlytofeedback,comparedtoseed-basedprogrammes.

Trialdesigns,assessmentandanalysismethodshavebeenrefinedtomaximisecost-efficiencywithoutsacrificingeffectivenessofselection.Developmentof‘breeder-friendly’cloud-basedsoftware(Gemview)assistsdecision-makingandacceleratesthetestingandselectionprocess.Ourfocusondevelopingsmallnumbersofeliteclonesfordeploymentplacesgreateremphasison the importance of selecting stable high performers and multi-trait ‘correlation-breakers’ for managing both inter-traitcorrelationsandGXE.

Propagationmethods havebeenextendedtoimproveyieldsandplantqualityforfield-provengenotypes, providingcost-efficientcommercialproductionthat enablesbusinessgrowth,withsmallstaff,andlowcapital requirements.

New applications of genomic selection, may be ineffective unless designed in conjunction with clonal deploymentprocesses.Cloningofthebreedingpopulationoffersnewoptionsforrealisinggeneticgainsandrepresentsthenextstageofimprovementofradiatapine.

59


GENETIC DIVERSITY, CONSERVATION AND BREEDING OF EUCALYPTUS BENTHAMII

David Bush1,NigelEngland1,LindaBroadhurst2

1 CSIRO Australian Tree Seed Centre, Canberra, Australia2 CSIRO Australian National Herbarium, Canberra, Australia

Aims:Eucalyptus benthamiiisamongstthemostcoldtolerantoffast-growing,subtropicaleucalypts.Itisgenerallyplantedinwarmpartsof theworld thataresubject tosudden lowtemperatureevents includingsouthernChina,partsofSouthAmericaandsouthernUSA.Thespeciesislistedasthreatenedinthewild,withveryfewtreesremaininginsomepopulations.Thoughgeneticimprovementprogramsareunderwayinvariouscountries,thegeneticbaseofallprogramsislikelynarrow.Thechallengeofbroadeningthegeneticbasemayinvolveaccessinghighlyvulnerableandfragmentedpopulationsand/orintrogressionofgenesfromputativelycloserelativessuchasE. dorrigoensis.

Methods: 1. DispatchrecordsfromtheAustralianTreeSeedCentrewereanalysedtoascertainthelikelydiversityofthespecies

exportedoutsideofAustralia.2. GraftingofisolatedtreesinrelictsubpopulationsofE. benthamiihascommencedtoformaclonalseedorchard(CSO)3. DNAfromwildtrees,fieldtrialsandthegraftedtreesofE. benthamiiandE.dorrigoensiswasanalysedtoassessthe

diversitywithinandbetweenpopulationsandthetwospecies(formerlyconsideredtobesubspeciesofE. benthamii).

Results and Conclusions:AnalysisofhistoricalrecordsindicatesthattheglobalbreedingbaseofE. benthamiiisverynarrow.Graftingofisolated,wildtreesintoaCSOisaslowbutsuccessfulprocessthatholdssomepromise.AnalysisofDNAfromE. benthamiiandE. dorrigoensisishelpingtorevealtherelationshipbetweenthetwospeciesandinformoptionsforbreedingandconservationpopulationmanagement.

60


TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN THE POST-GENOMIC ERA: SPRUCE AS A CASE STUDY

Nathalie Isabel1,JulieGodbout1,ClaudeBomal1,PatrickLenz1,JeanBeaulieu1,3,JohnMackay2,JeanBousquet3

1 Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, 1055 du P.E.P.S., P.O. Box 10380, Stn. Sainte-Foy, Québec, QC, G1V 4C7, Canada

2 Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, S Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3RB, United Kingdom3 Canada Research Chair in Forest and Environmental Genomics, Centre for Forest Research and Institute for Systems and

Integrative Biology, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

NaturalforestsdominatetheCanadianlandscapealmosteverywhere.Theyyieldmostofthewoodusedbytheforestindustryandprovidenumerousecosystemservices.Changingenvironments,pressuretoconserveforestlands,andsociety’sdemandforsustainableforestmanagementcallfornewapproachesandpracticestoincreaseforestproductivityandadaptability.

Atthebeginningofnewmillennium,genomicsciencewasseenasameansofdevelopingtoolstocharacteriseandhelppreserve the natural genetic diversity of trees, and of more rapidly developing new varieties for reforestation.This visionbecame particularly compelling in the context of environmental change and the adoption of better sustainable forestmanagementpractices.Overthelastdecade,wehavewitnessedthedevelopmentofextensivegenomicresources(includingtheknow-how) formany treespecies. Insomecases (growthorwoodquality improvement,climatechangeadaptation,forestcertification,etc.),thesenewlyavailabledataarebeingusedtocreatetoolsforthetranslationofresultstobeusedbyend-usersfromacrossCanada.Here,wewillpresentdifferentexamplesofapplications(atraceabilitymethod,genomicselection,etc.)thatmayorwillspringupfromlarge-scalegenomicprojectsconductedusingspruce,aspeciesofeconomicimportanceinCanada,asacasestudy.

61


MOLECULAR GENETIC MARKERS TO ACHIEVE PRODUCTIVE AND RESILIENT FORESTS

Valerie Hipkins

National Forest Genetic Electrophoresis Laboratory, United States Forest Service, Placerville, CA, USA

The United States Forest Service has been committed to using molecular genetic markers to achieve productive andresilient forests foroveraquarterofacentury.TheNationalForestGeneticsLaboratory (NFGEL)wasestablished in1988withthepurposeofprovidinggenetictestingandinformationforintegratedsolutionstoon-the-groundproblemsfacedbynaturalresourcemanagersandpolicymakers.NFGELusesstate-of-the-arttechnologytoaddressgeneticconservationandmanagementofallplantspeciesusingvariouslaboratorytechniquesincludingadvancedDNAtechnologies.Weusegeneticmarkerstoinvestigategeneticdiversityandstructureforavarietyofpurposes,fromquestionsofindividualization(addressingtimber theft,andproviding information tosupportbreedingprograms) toassessingdifferencesamongpopulationsandspecies (maintainingspeciesandgeneticdiversity in reforestationprograms,and identifyinggeneticvariation inclimatictolerancesof restorationspecies).Becausegeneticandgenomic toolsareconstantlychangingandevolving,weuse thetechniquethatisthemostappropriatetoresolvethegeneticquestionasked,whetherthatisallozymes,microsatellites,or‘next-generation’sequencingplatforms.

62

A B S T R A C T S – F R I D A YNOTES

Posters

63

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 1

THE NEW ZEALAND CYPRESS BREEDING PROGRAM

Charlie Low1,HeidiDungey1,JohnRussell2,MarkMiller1

1 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand, 2 British Columbia Forest Service, Victoria, Canada

TheNewZealandcypressbreedingprogramstarted in1982withtheselectionofCupressus macrocarpaandC. lusitanica to form separate breeding populations.These two species grow faster than other cypress species in New Zealand, buttheirtimberisnotasdurableasthatof Chamaecyparis nootkatensisandtheyaretroubledbycypresscanker.Thebreedingpopulationsarenowintheirsecondgenerationandseedorchardshavebeendeveloped.

Cypresses form hybrids between species more readily than most forest trees and some accidental hybrids have shownpromise.RecentadvancesinpollenstoragetechniquesmadebyscientistsinBritishColumbiahavebeenusedtomakenewhybridstointroducebettertimberdurabilityandresistancetocypresscanker.

Selected clones have been multiplied by grafting and crossing archives have been planted. The first hybrid seed wasproduced in 2007 and early results show heterosis with the hybrids growing as fast as the most vigorous parent. SomecrossesinvolvingC. guadalupensisforimprovedresistancetocypresscankerproducedasmuchviableseedaswithinspeciescrossing.However,crossesbetweenChamaecyparis nootkatensisandtreesfromtheCupressusgenusproducedfewviableseeds.Vegetativemultiplicationbycuttingsmaybecrucialtoproducingcommercialquantitiesofcypresshybridplantsandtrialsofblockplantingsofclonedcypresshybridswereplantedoutin2014.

Hybrid cypresses therefore appear to be a better planting option than pure species and will continue to be pursued toprovidehealthierplantsthatperformmoreconsistentlyacrossawiderrangeofsites.

64

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 2

GENETIC VARIATION IN BARK STRIPPING OF PINUS RADIATA

Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra1,HeidiDungey2,BradPotts1,AlisonMiller1,HughFitzgerald1,DonAurik3,StephenElms4,PaulJefferson5andNoelDavies6 1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia 2 Scion, 49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand3 Timberlands Pacific Pty Ltd, PO Box 865, Launceston 7250, Tasmania, Australia4 HVP Plantations, 50 Northways Road, Churchill 3842, Victoria, Australia5 Radiata Pine Breeding Company, PO Box 1127, Rotorua 3015, New Zealand6 Central Science Laboratory, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 74, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia

TheconiferplantationestateformsamajorcomponentofAustralia’sforestryindustry,withmorethanamillionhectaresofPinus radiatatrees.BarkstrippingbymammalianherbivoresinPinus spp.plantationsisamajorthreattoproductivityandalargeeconomicburdenforforestrycompanies.Theindustryneedsacost-effective,sociallyacceptableandenvironmentallysustainable alternative. One such approach is to use the plant’s natural, genetic-based variation in traits (e.g. defensivechemicalsinthephloemandbark)toselectgenotypesthataremoreresistanttoattackanddeterherbivoresfromtargetingtrees. Here we looked at multiple field trials across multiple sites containing a wide genetic complement of P. radiata deploymentstock(open-pollinatedorfull-sibfamilies).Trialswereassessedforanimaldamageandtreecharacteristics.Wefoundevidenceofgenetic-basedfieldvariationinbarkstrippingbymammalsonseveralsiteswithonesiteexhibitingarangeof11-53%variationinbarkdamagebetweengenotypes.Somevariationwasalsoexplainedbytreesizewheresmallertreesreceivedmoredamagethanlargerones,andtreeswithsmoothbarkreceivedmoredamagethanthosewithroughbark.Futureworkwillfurtherelucidategenetic-basedvariationinthemechanismsdrivingvariationindamage.

65

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 3

GENETIC VARIATION IN NEEDLE δ13C IS POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH RADIATA PINE GROWTH UNDER DRY CONDITIONS

Jianming Xue1,HeidiDungey2,PeterClinton1,SylvieNiollet3,YongLi2

1 Scion, Christchurch, New Zealand2 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand3 INRA, Bordeaux, France

The potential of using carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) (a surrogate index of water use efficiency,WUE) as selectioncriteriafordroughttolerancehasnotbeenrigorouslytestedinradiatapinespecies.Thisstudywastoinvestigatethegeneticvariationinneedleδ13Canddeterminegeneticcorrelationsbetweenneedleδ13Candgrowthtraits.ThisstudywasmainlybasedonaRadiataPineBreedingCompanybreedingtrialestablishedatadrysiteinChristchurchbutvalidatedusingotherthreetrialsacrossNewZealand.TheRPBCtrialisasets-in-replicatesdesign,with30replicationsof122open-pollinated(OP)familiesfromtheNewZealandradiatapinebreedingprogramme.Thematurecurrent-yearneedlesfrom20individualtreesof122OPfamiliesweresampledforδ13Canalysis,andtreeheightandDBHwerealsomeasuredfor2440individualtreesatage8years.

Atage8years,thenarrow-senseheritabilitywaslowfortreeheight(0.12±0.03)andDBH(0.20±0.04),butmoderateforneedle δ13C (0.40 ± 0.08).This indicates that needle δ13C was a heritable trait for radiata pine.The genetic correlationsbetweenneedleδ13Candtreeheight(rg=0.22±0.17))orDBH(rg=0.43±0.13)weremoderateandpositive.Thisindicatesthegenotypicdifferencesofneedleδ13Camongindividualtreesinthisbreedingpopulationweremainlydeterminedbydifferencesinphotosyntheticcapacity.Ourresultshighlightthepotentialuseofneedleδ13CasausefultraitforindirectlyselectingradiatapinegenotypeswithimprovedWUEandgrowthperformanceunderdryconditions.

66

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 4

GENETIC PARAMETERS ESTIMATION AND BREEDING VALUES PREDICTION FOR GROWTH AND WOOD QUALITY TRAITS IN THE FRENCH MARITIME PINE BREEDING PROGRAMME.

Gregory Dutkowski2,LaurentBouffier1,AnnieRaffin1

1 INRA, Bordeaux, France2 Plantplan Genetics, Hobart, Australia

Maritimepine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) representsonemillionhectaresofcultivated forest insouthwesternFrance.Abreedingprogrammehasbeenimplementedsincetheearly1960sfollowingarecurrentschemefromabasepopulationselectedinunimprovedplantations.Today,ithasreacheditsthirdgenerationwithgeneticsgainsof30%fortheimprovedgrowthandstemstraightnessvarieties.Theaimofthisstudywastocarryoutajoint-analysisof44mainprogenytrials(i.e.morethan450,000trees)withadvancedstatisticalmethodsinordertoaccuratelyestimategeneticparametersandpredictbreedingvalues.Twelvetraitsrelatedtogrowth,stemstraightness,branching,winddamageandwooddensityinuptofourageclasseswereconsidered,makingatotalof33selectioncriteriaforthebreedingvalueprediction.

Geneticparameterswerefirstcalculatedwithineachtrialafteradjustmentforspatialheterogeneity(spatialautocorrelationmodels)and tabulated intoadatabase.Thisgeneticparameterdatabaseallowedestimationof inter-traitsandage -agegeneticcorrelationsatthepopulationlevel.Then,multivariateanalyseswithderivedfixedpopulationgeneticcorrelationswerecarriedoutonadjusteddatainordertoestimateadditivevariances,residualvariancesandresidualcorrelationsforeachtraitineachtrial.Finally,theseparameterswereusedtoruntheBLUPsolverTREEPLAN,andpredictbreedingvaluesandtheirassociatedaccuracies.

ThisstudyrepresentsthefirstwidescaleuseofspatialanalysesinMaritimepinetrialsandfirstjointmultivariateanalysisofalltrials.Thelargedatasetanalysedhereallowstheestimationofaccurategeneticparametersforvarioustraitsrelatedtowoodproduction.ThegeneticevaluationwiththeTREEPLANsystemdemonstratesthepossibilityifintegrationofallavailableinformationfromthesuccessivebreedinggenerationstoincreasetheaccuracyofbreedingvaluesandmaximisegainfromselection.

67

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 5

PRODUCTIVITY OF POPLAR CULTIVARS (POPULUS SPP.) SELECTED IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN SHORT ROTATION FORESTRY IN POLAND

Marzena Niemczyk,TomaszWojda

Forest Research Institute, Sekocin Stary, Poland

The use of renewable energy sources such as biomass is an important aspect of European Union policy. In light of therestrictionconcerningtheuseofthe“full-valuewood”fromforestsforenergypurposes,short-rotationforestrymaybecomeanalternativesourceofwoodybiomass.Inthiscontext,themostpromisingspeciesinPolishconditionsispoplar(Populus spp.),theproductivityofwhichdependsonvariousaspectssuchas:plantspacing,cuttingcycles,fertilizationandcultivarcharacteristics. The aim of this study was to analyse the productivity of 10 poplar clones: 4 from Italy: ‘AF2’, ‘AF6’, ‘AF8’,‘Monviso’=’MON’,4introducedfromtheDutchbreedingprogram:‘Degrosso’,‘Albelo’,‘Polargo’,‘Koster’,andtwopoplarclones‘Hybrida 275’ and‘Fritzi Pauley’, recommended by Polish Forest Research Institute for use in long- and medium rotationforestry.

Anexperimentwassetupinthenorth-easternpartofPoland.Survival, treestocking,andbiomassyieldwerecompared.Productivityofcloneswasexaminedinafive-yearcuttingcycle.Thehighestyieldof7.8Dtha-1yr-1wasachievedbytheclonePopulus ‘Hybrida275’.Incomparisontothat,thebiomassyieldoftheworstclone‘AF-8’amountedto2tha-1yr-1.Someother Italianclones,suchas‘AF-6’and‘MON’couldnotadapttothe localclimaticconditionsatall,eventhoughtheyarecharacterizedbyhighproductivityintheirhomeland.Overall,theresultsindicatetheneedtotestclonesinthelocalclimaticcondition,beforetheywillbeusedincommercialscale.

68

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 6

WESTERN HEMLOCK REALISED GAIN TRIALS: RESULTS ARE GOOD – WHY DOES PLANTING CONTINUE TO DECLINE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA?

JohnKing1,CharlieCartwright1,Keith Jayawickrama2

1 BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Tree Improvement Branch, British Columbia, Canada2 NW Tree Improvement Cooperative, College of Forestry, Oregon State University, OR, USA

WesternhemlockisthemostimportantcommercialtimberspeciesincoastalBritishColumbia(BC).Itisthelargestvolumeproducer (closeto4millioncumperyear)and issecondonlytoredcedar invaluetotheprovincial treasury forcoastallogging–withcloseto$50millionayearrevenues.Naturalregenerationofhemlockstandscanattimesbeprolific,andinrecentyearstherehasbeenasteadydeclineinseedlingsplantedfromover9millionhemlockseedlingsplantedannuallytoonlyamillion–anearly10scalereduction.Thisisdespiteevidencethathighgainscanbedeliveredfromcurrentseedorchard seed and the faster green-up and more even-spaced stocking associated with artificial regeneration more thancompensatesfortheadditionalcostsofplantingstock.

ThedeclineinhemlockplantinginBCisinsharpcontrasttoincreasedplantingintheUSPacificNorthwesti.e.Washington(WA)andOregon(OR)–goingfromunder4milliontoover8.5millionwithinthepast5yearsandlargelydrivenbyincreasingincidenceofSwissNeedleCastdiseaseoncoastalDouglas-fir.InterestinhemlockbreedinginORandWAhasbeensufficientlyhightosupportathirdcyclebreedingprogram.Hemlocktreeimprovementbeganinthe1970’s,withtheestablishmentofOPtrials. In1991,aninternationalcooperativetreeimprovementprogram(theWesternHemlockTreeImprovementCooperative,Hemtic)wasestablishedwithprivateandgovernmentalorganisationsfromacrossthecoastalregionsofBC,Washington,andOregon.Co-operatorsincludedtheBCForestService(BCFS)oftheMinistryofForests(MoF),theUSBureauofLandManagement(BLM),theOregonDepartmentofForestry(ODF),theQuinaultIndianNation(QIN),and9forestindustrymembers.TheHemticprogramsetupF-1crossesofselectionsfromfivefirst-generationtestingprograms.HemlocktreeimprovementhasbeensummarizedfortheUSin[1];andthevalueforapotentiallyvaluablepulpandpaperspeciesin[2].

AtthesametimerealisedgaintrialswereestablishedinBCthatcouldcompare“woodsrun”–wildseedto“elitecrosses”fromtheOPtrials–equivalenttonewseedorchardsthatwerebeingsetup.20yearresults,approximatelyhalf-rotation,show65%volumegainofelitecrosses(“A”classseed)to“woodsrun”.Evenmoreimpressivearethepotentialgainsofaplantationprogramcomparedtonaturalregeneration.–estimatesaremanyhundredsof%ofincreasedyield.NewareaplottrialstothoroughlyinvestigateevenhigherlevelsofgeneticgainandcomparetonaturalregenerationarebeingplannedinBCandimplementedinORandWA.

References[1]. Jayawickrama, K. J. S. (2003). Genetic improvement and deployment of western hemlock in Oregon and Washington: Review

and Future Prospects. Silvae Genetica, 52, 1-44.[2]. King, J. N., Cartwright, C., Hatton, J., & Yanchuk, A. D. (1998). The potential of improving western hemlock pulp and paper

quality. I. Genetic control and interrelationships of wood and fibre traits Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 28, 863-870.

69

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 7

FOREST TREE BREEDING AND MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT IN KOREA

Dae-YoungKim1,Soon-HoKwon1,2,Ji-MinPark1,Sung-JoonNa3and Kyu-Suk Kang1

1 Departement of Forest Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826 Republic of Korea2 Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, SNU, Seoul 151-921, Republic of Korea3 Division of Tree Breeding, National Institute of Forest Science, Suwon 16631, Republic of Korea

Koreaforestswerehighlyrich,productiveandhadgoodformed,bigtreesbeforeJapanesecolonialregimeandKoreanWar.DuringtheJapaneseoccupation,alargepartofforestwasdestroyedbyover-cuttingindiscriminately.Inaddition,theKoreanWarbrokeoutandlastedforthreeyears.Afterthat,socialdisorderwassoseriousthateveryonewenttotheforestsandcutthetreeswithoutanypermitfromtheauthority.Thus,almostallmountainsexceptremoteareasweredenudedsoseverelythatthemountainslookedred.Koreaneededurgentlyagoodtreespeciesforthedevastatedland.Early1990s,KoreametagreatscholarandresearchadvisorwhosenamewasDr.SinKyuHyun.It isveryhardtotalkabouttreebreedinghistorywithoutmentioninghiminKorea.Infact,thelateDr.HyunwasafounderoftreebreedingworkinKorea,establishingtheForestGeneticsResearchInstitute(nowDepartmentofForestGeneticResources)inSuwonin1956.First,theInstitutehasdonemuchofhybridbreedingsuchashybridpinesandhybridpoplars.Pinus regitaeda,hybridbetweenP. rigida andP. taeda,showsbettercoldtoleranceandsuperiortimberqualitycomparedtothemotherandalsosuperiorstraightnessaslikeasthefathertree.Atageof20,thehybridpineshowed12.5mheightand20cmDBH,whilethemothertreeshowed8.8mheightand15.5cmDBH.ThisworkwascitedoncoverpageofFAOreportandcontextofUScongressionalreportasWonderpine.Koreaneededalsothepoplarthatwassuitableforslopeandmountainarea.Aftermuchhybridizationamongpoplarvarieties,Populus alba x P. glandulosa wasfoundtobesuitableoneatdryandmountainousareas.Itshowed40cmDBHandstraightstemsatageof20.Recentlythishybridpoplarusedtoresearchonphytoremediation,riparianbufferforest(SRC)andbiotechnology(genomics).Second,wehavebeendoingintroductionbreeding.Inthefirstphase,atotalof376specieswasintroducedfrom30foreigncountriesandtestedadaptationabilityat388differentsites.Afterthat,Pinus rigida, Robinia pseudoacacia, Alnus inokumaiandLarix leptplepiswereselected,buttheadaptationdataweredestroyedduringtheKoreanWar.Inthesecondphase,415speciesfrom38countrieswereintroducedagainand8speciesincludingLiriodendron tulipifera, Quercus rubraand Prunus serotina wereselectedandreleasedbaseontheadaptationtest.Inthethirdphase(1996-present),continuousadaptationtestandselectionhavebeendoing.Third,plustreeshavebeenselectedfromwildforestssince1959andusedforestablishingseedorchards.Sofar,atotalof2,724plustreesfrom29treespecies(1,582plustreesfrom11conifersincludingredpineand1,142plus trees from18deciduousspecies includingoaks)havebeenselected.Since1968,seedorchardshavebeenestablishedwiththeselectedplustrees.Uptonow,wehaveestablished620.5haofseedorchardsfor15coniferspecies.Astherehasbeenanincreasingdemandfordeciduoustrees,weneedtosecureseedsourcesforthesespecies.Deciduousstandsoccupyabout1.7millionha(26%)of6.5millionhaforestsinKorea.Moreconiferstandsarebeingconvertedtodeciduousforests.Tomeetthesocialdemand,wehaveestablished160.5haseedorchardswith47deciduousspecies.Theseedorchardsbegantoproducegeneticallyimprovedseedsin1976about10yearsaftertheirestablishment.Astheseedorchardsmature,theyareexpectedtoproduceenoughimprovedseedsofmanyconifersincludingredpine,blackpineandhybridpine.Duringtheoverlast38years,theseedorchardshaveproducedgeneticallyimprovedseedsofaround252.4tons,whicharesufficientforconiferreforestationbutlackforbroadleavesinourforestland.Lastly,specialpurposetreebreedingprogramhasbeendoinganddevelopedmanynewvarietiesofchestnut,walnut,nativekiwi,nationalflower,etc.

70

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 8

THE INHERITANCE OF THE ANNUAL PATTERN OF HEIGHT GROWTH IN CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA

Eitaro Fukatsu1,KojiMatsunaga1,ManabuKurita1,NoritsuguKuramoto1,MakotoTakahashi2

1 Kyushu Regional Breeding Office, Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Koshi, Japan2 Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Hitachi, Japan

Thein-depthunderstandingofphenotypesandappropriatedeterminationofselectiontraitareimportantfortheimprovementofefficiencyof theearly selection in forest treebreeding.Topursueefficientearly selection forgrowthperformance,weexamined the clonal differences in seasonal growth pattern in juvenile stage, and its correlation with the clonal growthperformanceinadultstageinCryptomeria japonica,oneofthemajorforestryspeciesinJapan.Wemeasuredheightgrowthoftotallyabout300juvenileramets(1to3yearsafterplanting)of12cloneswithonetotwoweeksintervalforthreeyears.MaximumdiurnalgrowthswereobservedatthelateMay,withrelativelyhigherheritabilities.TheclonalgrowthinmaturestageshowedthehighestcorrelationwiththeearlyJunediurnalgrowthofjuvenilestage.WediscusstheefficiencyofthedecompositionofheightgrowthintoperiodicgrowthsinayearfortheearlyselectionofheightgrowthinC. japonica.

71

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 9

GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY AND GENOMIC PREDICTION FOR CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA PLUS TREES

Yuichiro Hiraoka1,TomonoriHirao2,KentaroMishima1,MihoTamura3,EitaroFukatsu4,TaiichiIki5,MiyokoTsubomura1,MineNose1,MinekoOhira1,SoHanaoka1,MakotoTakahashi1,HiroshiHoshi1,AtsushiWatanabe3

1 Forest Tree Breeding Center, FFPRI, Japan2 Forest Bio-Research Center, FFPRI, Japan3 Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Japan4 Kyushu Regional Breeding Office, FTBC, FFPRI, Japan5 Tohoku Regional Breeding Office, FTBC, FFPRI, Japan

Cryptomeria japonicaisoneofthemostimportantspeciesforforestryinJapan.WiththeultimateaimofmolecularbreedingforC. japonica,weperformedagenome-wideassociationstudy(GWAS)foridentifyingspecificsinglenucleotidepolymorphisms(SNPs)forvarioustraits(growth,woodquality,andpollenproductivity)basedonthefirst-generationplustreeclonesofthespecies.Additionally,weverifiedthecapabilitiesofgenomicpredictionforeachtrait.SNPdiscoverywascarriedoutbasedon>30,000isotigs,whichwereintegratedsequencesoftheexpressedsequencetags(ESTs)obtainedfromvariousorgans.Axiom70KSNParraywasdesignedandwasusedforgenotypingapanelpopulationconsistedof514clones.Phenotypedataofthegenotypedcloneswereobtainedfromclonaltests.Wedetected>33,000SNPsthatwerepolymorphicandinformativeforthefollowinganalyses.AsaresultofGWASforeachtrait,anumberofSNPsweresignificantandwerescatteredalloverthegenome.Theaccuraciesofgenomicpredictionweredifferentamongtraitsand/orpredictionmodels.Thepredictionofpollenproductivityshowedhigheraccuracythanthatoftheothertraits.WediscussedthepossibilityandfuturesubjectofmolecularbreedingforC. japonica.

72

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 10

HYBRID ASPEN CLONES OF SOUTHERN ORIGIN ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN CURRENTLY USED NORTHERN CLONES IN HEMIBOREAL CONDITIONS AFFECTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Reimo Lutter1,ArvoTullus2,TeaTullus1,HardiTullus1

1 Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia2 University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

Short-rotation forestry (SRF)withhybridaspen (Populus tremula L. × P. tremuloides Michx.) isanewsilviculturalconcept inNorthernEurope.InhemiborealEstoniathefirsthybridaspenplantationsfortheproductionofpulpwoodwereestablishedin1999onabandonedagriculturallandswithclonalplantsproducedfromcrossingshavingoneorbothparentsofnorthernorigin.However,consideringclimatechangeandelongatedgrowingseason,thereislackofknowledgeaboutsuitabilityofhybridaspenclonesselectedfromcrossingsofparentsfromsouthernregions.

Comparisontrialof22hybridaspencloneswithparentalmaterialrepresentingdifferentlatitudeswasestablishedtoevaluatetheirgrowth,biomasscharacteristicsandsuitabilitytoEstonianclimateconditions.Datawerecollectedinsixconsecutiveyears.Biomassmodeltreeswereanalyseddestructivelyafterthe5thgrowingyeartotestclonaleffectonbiomassandwoodcharacteristics.Phenologicalsurveyswerecarriedoutduringthe3rdand6thgrowthyear.

Clonaleffectwassignificantonallstudiedcharacteristics(height,stemdiameter,above-groundbiomass,wooddensity,shareofstembarkandbranches).Thelengthofthegrowingseasonwasinastrongpositivecorrelationwithcurrentannualgrowthincrement.Fastestgrowingcloneswereofsouthernorigin,whilethepoorestwerecurrentlycommerciallyusedclonesofnorthernorigin.

Under the changing climate and elongating growing season in higher latitudes, hybrid aspen clones of more southerlyoriginthatareadaptedtolongergrowingseasoncouldbesuccessfullygrowninthehemiborealregionwheretheyaremoreproductivethancurrentlyusedclonesofnorthernorigin.

73

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 11

PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF CALYCOPHYLLUM SPRUCEANUM BENTH. PROVENANCES IN AGUAYTIA BASIN, UCAYALI REGION, PERU

Leoncio Ugarte-Guerra1,2

1 James Cook University, Cairns, Australia2 World Agroforestry Centre ICRAF, Pucallpa, Peru

Theobjectivewastoevaluatetheeffectofprovenanceintheproductivityof12Calycophyllum spruceanumBenth.insmallholderforestplantations(replications)of48monthsoldinatotalareaof5.72has.Seedswascollectedfrom11provenance,seedlingwereproduceanddistributed into3blocks intheAguaytíaRiver, located intheUcayaliRegion.Researcherandfarmersworktogetherformaintenanceandevaluation.Directmeasurementswereusedtoevaluatestateoftheplantationsandthe relationshipwithsoilandclimate factors inorder to identifypotentialplaces for theestablishmentof successfulplantations.SiteIndex(SI),wasdefinedastheaverageofthetotalheightinmetersofthehigherquintile.SiteIndexwashighlycorrelatedtobasalarea,andtotalbarkvolume.

Noteworthydifferenceswere found intheplotsevaluated.Thisallowsthegenerationofaclassificationbased intheSiteIndex.Thisclassificationisconsistentwiththeblocksandthealtitudethroughoutthebasin inmostofthecases.Growthaverageinthebestreplicationresultedinavolumetricincrementofupto13.349m3ha-1year-1.Localprovenanceshowsthehighestincreaseofvolume.

74

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 12

QUANTITATIVE GENETIC SURVEY OF LODGEPOLE PINE

Haleh Hayatgheibi

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

Lodgepolepine(Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia)wasintroducedfromwesternCanadatoSwedenduring1970sfornewplantationestablishmenttosupplementlocalspeciesduetoitsfastergrowthrate(35%fasterthanlocalScotspine).Sofar,600000hectaresofforesthasbeenestablishedusinglodgepolepine.However,highmortality,lackofwind-stabilityandlowsnowpressuretoleranceduetolowwooddensityisachallengefortheexpansionofplantation.

Inordertoenhancethequalityofcommercialplantationoflodgepolepine,westartedaquantitativegeneticprojectto:(1)estimategeneticparametersofgrowth(heightanddiameter)andwoodqualitytraits(modulusofelasticity(MOE),microfiberangle (MFA),wooddensity, spiralgrainangleandfiber,andcellwall traits)and theirgeneticcorrelations; (2)explore theimportance of genotype by environment interactions among sites; and (3) incorporate wood quality traits into selectivebreedingprogram.

Six36-year-oldprogenytrialswith200half-sibfamilieswereselectedfortheproject,and1200standingtreesweremeasuredusingacoustictooland800incrementcoreswereexaminedbySilviScan.

ThegeneticvarianceandcovariancematricesforsolidwoodandpulpandpaperproductiontraitsareestimatedandwillbeusedtodevelopoptimaleconomicselectionindexforbreedinganddeploymentselectionoflodgepolepineinSweden.

75

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 13

UAPACA GUINEENSIS [1]. REFORESTATION BY UAPACA GUINEENSIS: AN INNOVATIVE STRATEGY FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING, A SOLUTION TO ENERGY AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER IN THE NORTH BATÉKÉ CHIEFDOM IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Par Claude Keboy Mov Linkey Iflankoy

Coordonateur Synergie Rurale – Action Paysanne, SYR-AP (ONG)

Inordertofightagainstglobalwarmingandsolvethethornyproblemoffuelwood,severalsolutionsarebeingconsideredincluding reforestation. This reforestation is done with well-chosen plants according to the use that will make localcommunities.ForthecommunitiesoftheNorthBatékéleadershipintheDemocraticRepublicofCongo,theyhavechosenUapaca guineensis.

Uapaca guineensispromotestherepopulationofgalleryforestscanrecreatetheecosystem[2]thatgrowsmushrooms.Thesefruitsareanappropriatedietofwildlifeandbirds.Theecosystemthatcreatesissuitableforanimalsoftheantelopefamily.Itprovidesanaturalreforestationthatreplenishtheforestgalleries.Whichwillalsogalleryforestssequestercarbonandthusofferstheopportunitytosellcarboncreditsinthefuture.Therearetwomethodsforitsplanting.Itisputonearthmatureseedsthatproduceseedlingsinsixmonthsandiscarriedoutthetransplantation.Asecondprocedureistopiquethenaturalseedlingsandplantthemimmediately.Fiveyearsareenoughforstartingseedlingsintheforest.ThemethodusedbylocalNGOsinpartnershipwithWWFistoreforesttheforestedgestoprotectexistingonesandcreatenewonesinthesavannas.

It isthereforeaquestionofthe2020emissionreductionestimateswillreachatotalof29mtCO2[3].TheWorldBank[4]throughtheForestCarbonPartnershipFacility (FCPF)hasawardedtheprovinceofMay-ndombe$80million(USD)for itseffortsinprotectingitsforests.

References[1]. Baillon, H. (1858). Étude générale du groupe des Euphorbiacées. Paris: V. Masson. [2]. Posner, S., Maercklein, D., & Overton, R. (2009). Pour des approches communautaires de gestion des feux et de restauration

dans le bassin du Congo. Mission du Service Forestier de l’USDA en République du Congo et en République Démocratique du Congo

[3]. Kabengele wa Kadilu, V. (2015). Atelier sur le programme de réduction des émissions de Mai-Ndombe, Bandundu – Ville, 12 février.

[4]. Goehler, D. (2015). Prochaines étapes pour la RDC Programme de Réduction des Emission a Mai Ndombe , Atelier sur le programme de réduction des émissions de Mai-Ndombe, Bandundu – Ville, 12 février.

76

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 14

GENETIC DIVERSITY AND STRUCTURE OF DWARF STONE PINE IN MT. SEORAK, SOUTH KOREA

Hyo-In Lim,Kyung-NakHong,Kil-NamKim,Hyeon-wooHa,Seok-wooLeeandYong-PyoHong

Division of Forest Genetic Resources, National Institute of Forest Science, P.O. Box 441-350, Suwon, Republic of Korea

Dwarfstonepine(Pinus pumila) isafive-needlepineoccurring innorth-easternAsia. InSouthKorea, itgrowsonly intheDaecheongbongarea(1550-1700mabovesealevel)ofMt.Seorak.WestudiedthegeneticdiversityandspatialstructureofadwarfpinestandonMt.Seorakusingsixnuclearmicrosatellite(nSSR)markers.Thepopulationwasdividedintothreepartsbasedonthegeneticalbandwidthmapping(GBM)analysis.Thegeneticdiversity(He=0.608)wasrelativelylowcomparedtotheotherPinusspecies(MeanHe=0.700),whichmightberesultedfromthereproductionofprogeniesamonggeneticallyrelated kinship individuals. The analysis of the spatial autocorrelation showed a positive spatial autocorrelation (geneticstructure) at spatial scales of up to 24 m. Based on the results of genetic structure, we provided baseline information ofsamplingstrategiesfortheexsituconservationofP. pumilainMt.Seorak.

77

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 15

EVALUATION OF FIELD RESISTANCE TO WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST IN COASTAL BRITISH COLUMBIA

NicholasUkrainetz1,JohnKing1,Jaroslav Klapste1,2

1 BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Tree Improvement Branch, British Columbia, Canada2 Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand

Whitepineblisterrust,causedbyCronartium ribicolaJ.C.Fischer,hasbeenamajorprobleminwhitepineplantationsacrossNorthAmericanforests.Althoughthisexoticdiseasehasbeendevastatingtonativewhitepinespeciessinceitsintroductionacenturyago,significantgeneticresistancehasbeenfound[1].Kingetal.[2]reviewedthedifferentapproachesinbreedingforresistancetoblisterrustinNorthAmericanwhitepines.Inourposterwereviewlongterm“fieldresistance”thatdemonstratestheprogress thathasbeenmadetodateandestablishesguidelines for the re-introductionofwesternwhitepine (Pinus monticola Dougl.exD.Don)toCoastalBritishColumbia.Weinvestigatedblockplottrialsthatarenow15yearssomeofwhichareveryheavilyinfected.Upto100%ofwildunimprovedblocksarenowdeadofrust.Seedlotsrepresentingthe1st&2ndstageofimprovementhaveonly15%cleanorun-infectedtreesontheseheavilyinfectedsites.Seedlotsrepresentingthecurrentstateofselectionforpartialresistance(3rdstageimpovement)show35%cleantrees.Seedlotswiththemajorgene(Cr2)providestotalresistancebutissusceptibletobreakdown–showed80%cleantrees-sofarnobreakdownhasbeennotedinCr2deployedstockinB.C.Mostcurrentorchardseedlotscombinethetoppartialresistance(35%)withMGR(Cr2)appliedthroughsupplementalmasspolination(SMP).ThiscombinationprovidesanopportunityforwesternwhitepinetoonceagainbecomepartoftheregeneratedforestsofCoastalB.C..WerecommendplantingpurewhitepinewithMGRjustinsmallblocksorasmixtures(withjustpartialresistance)withDouglas-firand/orwesternredcedar.

References[1]. Kinloch Jr., B. B. (2003). White pine blister rust in North American: Past and prognosis. Phytopathology, 93, 1044–1047. [2]. King, J. N., David, A., Noshad, D., & Smith, J. (2010). A review of genetic approaches to the management of blister rust in white

pines. Forest Pathology, 40, 292–313.

78

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 16

SYMPTOMLESS AND HYPERSENSITIVE RESISTANCE OF EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS TO THE RUST PATHOGEN PUCCINIA PSIDII: EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENT QTL UNDERLYING EACH RESPONSE

JakButler1,JulesFreeman1,ReneVaillancourt1,BradPotts1,M.Glen2,David Lee3andG.S.Pegg4

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001 Australia2 School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001 Australia3 Forest Industries Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Locked Bag 4, Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558 Australia4 Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Ecosciences Precinct, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, QLD 4001 Australia

The rustPuccinia psidii infectsplantspeciesof the familyMyrtaceae.Native toSouthAmerica, thepathogenhas recentlyenteredAustraliawhichhasarichMyrtaceousflora, includingtreesoftheecologicallyandeconomicallyimportantgenusEucalyptus.WestudiedthegeneticbasisofvariationinrustresistanceinEucalyptus globulus,themainplantationeucalyptinAustralia.Quantitativetrait loci (QTL)analysiswasundertakenusing220treesofanoutcrossF2mappingfamilyandapreviouslypublished linkagemap.Mapped individualswerephenotypedbygrowing theiropenpollinatedprogeny inascreeningfacilitywhereseedlingswereinoculatedwiththestrainofP.psidiifoundinAustralia.QTLanalyseswereconductedusingabinaryclassificationofindividualswithnosymptoms(immune)versusthosewithdiseasesymptoms,andinaseparateanalysisdividingplantswithdiseasesymptomsintothoseexhibitingthehypersensitiveresponseversusthosewithmoreseveresymptoms.

FourQTLwere identifiedusing thismethod; twounderlying the segregationof thephenotypeexhibitingno symptoms(Ppr2andPpr3),andtwounderlyingthesegregationofthephenotypeexhibitingahypersensitivereaction(Ppr4andPpr5).TheseQTLmappedto4regionsondifferentlinkagegroups,anddonotoverlappreviouslyidentifiedlociforrustresistanceineucalypts,includingPpr1.TheindependentgeneticcontrolofthesephenotypicclassesprovidesevidencethatatleasttwomechanismscontributetorustresistanceinE. globulus.Togetherwithpastfindings,ourresultssuggestthatP. psidiiresistanceislikelytobequantitativeinnatureandinfluencedbythecomplexinteractionofmultiplelociofvariableeffectinthisnaïvehostgenus.

79

P O S T E R S

Poster Board 17

STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE GENOMES OF THE MAJOR EUCALYPT LINEAGES

JakButler1,JulesFreeman1*,BradPotts1,David Lee2,G.J.King3,A.Baten3,M.Shepherd3andReneVaillancourt1

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001 Australia2 Forest Industries Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Locked Bag 4, Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558 Australia3 Southern Cross Plant Science, Southern Cross University, Military Rd Lismore, NSW 2480 Australia

Theplant family Myrtaceae includesmany taxaofeconomic importance, including theclosely relatedgenera EucalyptusandCorymbia.TherecentreleaseoftheEucalyptus grandisreferencegenome,nowprovidesunprecedentedopportunitiesforcomparativegenomicanalyses.Tothisend,twomappingcrossesofCorymbia torelliana(CT)xCorymbia citriodora subsp. variegata(CCV)wereestablished,bothsharingtheCCVpollenparent.Parentallinkagemapswereconstructedusing115and245offspringfromeachcross.DArTseqmarkers,amarkerbinningprocess,andastrict iterativeapproachwereemployedtocreatethreerobusthigh-densitylinkagemaps,eachwith11linkagegroupsandrangingfrom4,616–6,055markers.ThegeneticpositionofeachmarkerintheCCVmapwascomparedtoitsphysicalpositionintheE. grandis referencegenometo explore any gross changes in chromosome structure. 1441 CCV markers could be located on the E. grandis genomeusingastringentBLASTthreshold.Ofthese,29%werenon-syntenic(ondifferentchromosomes)ornon-collinear(indifferentorder within a chromosome), with 13% involved in major intra-chromosomal rearrangements relative to the E. grandis genome.Largeterminalinversionsweredetectedonchromosomes4,9,10and11inCCV,andcomplextranslocationsonchromosomes2and6.Theserearrangements(excludingthetranslocationonchromosome2)wereverifiedinbothCTmapsbysimilaranalyses.Beforethisstudyitwaswidelyassumedthattheeucalyptgenomeswerelargelysyntenicandcollinear.Wenowhavestrongevidencethatthisisnotthecase.

80

P O S T E R SNOTES

81

NOTES

82

NOTES

The Conference Organising Committee

wishes to thank our platinum sponsor

handbook - conference innovators handbookcomp.pdf · handbook. 1 contents page conference sponsors...

Documents