Ideas for developments in Tree Breeding

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Ideas for developments in Tree Breeding
Dag LindgrenSwedish University of Agricultural
Sciences
Canton Sept 6
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Focuses for tree breeding in the coming decades

• Shorter rotation time in forestry (head for a
  decade, not a century),
• New breeds and races less associated to the
  natural
• Improved methods for cloning (artificial cloned
  seeds, seed factories),
• Family forestry (amplified by cloning),
• Full sib family forestry based on controlled
  cross (e.g. for use of hybrids),
• Indoor seed production on dwarf trees,

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• Top working and more advanced forms of sexual
  triggering of mature genotypes for breeding.
  Early sexuality less important (testing takes
  much time)!
• More optimal use of the breeding cycle (several
  steps in sequence),
• Better administrative systems for breeders (why?
  instead of fancy visions and scientific papers?).
  Scientists should avoid overemphasising fancy air
  castles, but unrealistically expensive,
  complicated and not operative methods,

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• Development of the theory of cheaper and more
  robust breeding systems (phenotypic selection,
  open pollination),
• More streamlined breeding reducing administrative
  delays,
• Improved interface with social and humanistic
  sciences concerning whats tolerable in forestry
  and get systems for its implementation (it is not
  only a problem of natural sciences),
• Convince decision makers that forestry is often
  different from agriculture,

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• Predictions and optimisations based on a firmer
  theoretical ground,
• More developed and deeper consequence analyses
  (including National and long term),
• More simulations (to see what may happen),
• Simulators more focused on user interface (so
  experience can be accumulated),

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• Better understanding of how trees interact in
  stands versus in tests,

• Breeding strategies encouraging co-operative
  instead of competitive stand genotypes,
• Breeding strategies encouraging plastic
  genotypes,
• Breeding strategies encouraging genotypes
  suitable for monoclonal forestry,

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• Trees should make wood, not sex. Thus methods to
  allocate resources to vegetative growth,
• Clonal testing as a method for testing the
  breeding population for sexual propagation should
  become more common.

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• Development of simple and robust cost effective
  low input systems for long term breeding,
• Shorter - but thicker - trees,
• More focus on the efficiency of genotypes
  (efficient use of air, water, nutrition, space,
  sun) compared to the quality of the product
  (which can increasingly easy be manipulated at
  later stages),

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• How to get trees to form more permanent (and not
  just temporary) carbon sinks at a cheap price.
  Maybe other environmental sinks also,

• Breeding of mycchoriza and other microbes (thus
  breeding may be more cost effective if directed
  to supportive species instead of the trees
  themselves),

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• Breeding of a forest which can support much game
  for hunting (more lucrative to produce game than
  wood...),

• Preconditioning (environment control of genetic
  switches rather than DNA control),
• More efforts to THINK and predict some
  generations ahead

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Old New ideas

• Old New ideas have historically got much
  attention, but little practical use (most
  examples are from Sweden). So I may be too
  conservative...

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Old New ideas

• Dag Lindgren
• Bäste Dag!
• Ehles triploida asp finns både kvar på den
  ursprungliga fyndplatsen, samt uppförökad här på
  Ekebo och på några försöksplatser. I Nordamerika
  har triploida arthybrider från den Ehle 4X, som
  han framställde från den triploida
  ursprungsindividen, framställts och så även i
  Tyskland där klonen Astria lär ha Ehle 4X som
  fader. I Helges gamla försök var de triploida
  hybriderna inte överlägsna de diploida i
  ungdomen, så han miste intresset för dem. Dock
  var jag med och gjorde nykorsningar i mitten på
  70-talet, men av dessa fältförsök återstår inte
  mycket idag. Man fann ju många andra triploida
  kloner senare. På Utsädesföreningen fanns ett
  träd med mer än 10 triploida kloner inympade, men
  det föll i en av stormarna på 80-talet.
• Lars-Göran har kollat de bästa 300
  hybridaspkloner som valdes under 90-talet. Flera
  av dem visar sig vara triploida och är nu under
  förnyad testning. Han skall bearbeta det
  materialet framöver. Hittills finns något lite
  publicerat i Pulkkinen, Tigerstedt och Viirros
  Aspen in papermaking University of Helsinki,
  Department of Applied B, Publication 5.
• Sen ett stort tack för diverse ammunition om
  patent m.m. som jag hade stor nytta av i
  genrättighetsgruppen, utan att avslöja vem
  personerna var bakom. Tack också för proceedings
  om high quality birch.
• Bästa hälsningar
• Martin

• Polyploidy, (triploids) started forest genetics
  in Sweden 1936 and was a major focus in Sweden
  1938-1950, but only use is some hybrids

• Mutation (I started my carrier with mutation
  research). Induced mutations got no use in
  forestry and some, but little in agriculture

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• Hybrids little practical impact, mainly because
  of problems to produce them pure (hybrid seed
  orchards frequently failed).
• Clonal forestry has been regarded "promising" for
  half a century, but less than 1 of current
  forest plantations in Sweden are clones and no
  raise in sight in spite of considerable efforts.

e.g. differences in phenology
seedlings are cheaper
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• Flowering stimulation, early flowering (flowering
  stimulation is used in Swedish breeding, but to a
  limited extent and top-working may be enough)

There are, however, some success stories from
other places in the World (in particular hybrids,
clonal forestry and greenhouse breeding).
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Current new New ideas

• Marker assisted selection (MAS)
• QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci)
• Genetic engineering (GE, GMO)
• Genomic diagnosis
• Early testing
• Micro propagation and somatic embryogenesis
  (improved methods for cloning)
• Speeding up the breeding cycle

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Experience shows 90 or more of expectations on
new methods fail...

• General problems
• long rotation time in forestry,
• need for long and complex field testing,
• high cost and low accuracy of field tests,
• high costs,
• too constrained and limited application
• data amounts are not manageable and not
  transparent

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More problems.

• scientists focuses on model organisms rather than
  improved trees. (More reproducible results and
  better papers)
• need for administrative and organisational
  sustainability,
• new procedures does not fit easily into existing
  systems and structures,
• environmental worries. Forest is Nature!

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Sweden 2002 few of all ideas and research
efforts produce gain in todays forests

• In Sweden today, most improved plants are from
  unthinned seed orchards containing wild plus tree
  selections 1950-1960 without thinning. In spite
  that we started 1938.
• If we started 1938 in the way we are doing it
  today, the genetic gain of new plantings out into
  forest would have been 30 instead of current 8!
• Provenance research has added some percent to
  production.

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• 1980-1994 a second batch of seed orchards mainly
  from a new batch of plus tree selection were
  established, but the gain may just raise from 8
  to 10 and some better survival in some places.
• 2005 we will start a new batch of seed orchards,
  mainly with progeny-tested trees. The gain in
  them will mostly be 20. We predict?!
• My point is that it does not seem to be very fast!

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