Susceptibility of provenances and families of Pinus maximinoi and Pinus tecunumanii to frost in South Africa

The future of South Africa’s most important pine species, Pinus patula, is threatened by the pitch canker fungus, Fusarium circinatum. Pinus maximinoi and P. tecunumanii represent two subtropical species that provide an alternative to planting P. patula on the warmer sites of South Africa. Extending the planting range of P. tecunumanii and P. maximinoi to include higher and colder altitude sites will reduce the area planted to P. patula and the risk of F. circinatum. During 2007 progeny trials of P. tecunumanii and P. maximinoi were planted on a sub-tropical and sub-temperate site. Shortly after the establishment of these trials, unusually cold weather conditions were experienced across South Africa (-3 C at the sub-temperate site) resulting in severe mortality. This provided the opportunity to assess the variation in survival as a measure of frost tolerance within these two species to determine whether it could be improved upon through selection. Results indicated that the variation in survival was under genetic control in P. tecunumanii (h(0,1) 2 = 0.16, hL 2 = 0.27) and P. maximinoi (h(0,1) 2 = 0.11, hL 2 = 0.23) at the sub-temperate site. Correlations in provenance ranking for survival across sites were high for both species. Moderate correlations in family survival for P. tecunumanii (r = 0.52) were found at the two sites. Improvements in cold tolerance can thus be made in both species extending their planting range to include greater areas planted to P. patula thereby limiting the risk of F. circinatum.http://link.springer.com/journal/1105

Economic importance, breeding objectives and achievements

This chapter reviews the historical context, economic importance, objectives and achievements to-date for many of the more important conifers undergoing domestification throught genetic improvement programs around the world. These provide examples of the context in which genomic technologies will have an impact in forestry. Unlike many other crop plants and livestock animals, forest trees have only been exposed to a few cycles of breeding and selection, and most retain very large amounts of genetic variation in natural populations. These factors present both opportunities and hurdles in the effective application of genomic technologies to existing operational breeding programs

Economic importance, breeding objectives and achievements

This chapter reviews the historical context, economic importance, objectives and achievements to-date for many of the more important conifers undergoing domestification throught genetic improvement programs around the world. These provide examples of the context in which genomic technologies will have an impact in forestry. Unlike many other crop plants and livestock animals, forest trees have only been exposed to a few cycles of breeding and selection, and most retain very large amounts of genetic variation in natural populations. These factors present both opportunities and hurdles in the effective application of genomic technologies to existing operational breeding programs

Bleached kraft pulp production from Pinus tecunumanii (Eguiluz e Perry) Produção de polpa kraft branqueada de Pinus tecunumanii (Eguiluz e Perry)

The use of 12-year-old Pinus tecunumanii (Eguiluz e Perry) grown in Colombia was evaluated for bleached kraft pulp production. Kraft pulps of kappa number 30 ± 1 were produced, and oxygen delignified and bleached to 90% ISO with ECF processes. The bleached pulps produced under optimum conditions were evaluated with regard to their strength properties. Pinus tecunumanii wood required low effective alkali charge to reach the desired kappa number and the unbleached pulp showed high oxygen delignification efficiency and bleachability when a OD(EO)DED sequence was used. The bleached pulps presented good physical-mechanical properties, which are comparable to those obtained with more traditional pines such as Pinus taeda and Pinus radiata. The results demonstrate that this tropical pine species is a suitable raw material for bleached kraft pulp production<br>Foram avaliadas amostras de Pinus tecunumanii de (Eguiluz e Perry) com 12 anos de idade procedente da Colômbia, para produção de polpa de kraft branqueada. Produziram-se polpas kraft com número kappa 30±1, deslignificada com oxigênio e branqueada a 90% ISO por processo ECF. As polpas branqueadas foram produzidas em condições ótimas e avaliadas com relação às suas propriedades de resistência. A madeira de Pinus tecunumanii exigiu baixa carga de álcali efetivo para alcançar o número kappa desejado, e a polpa marrom mostrou eficiência na deslignificação com oxigênio e alta branqueabilidade quando submetida à seqüência OD(EO)DED. As polpas branqueadas apresentaram boas propriedades físico-mecânicas, em comparação com aquelas obtidas das espécies tradicionais de Pinus, como o Pinus taeda e o Pinus radiata. Os resultados indicaram que essa espécie de pinus tropical é uma matéria-prima satisfatória para produção de polpa de kraft branqueada