1. UC/NZDFI’s durable eucalypt research programme Dr Clemens Altaner School of Forestry, University of Canterbury 12/5/2015 – Blenheim

2. Requirements for success
A market
Valuable products; competitively priced; environmentally friendly; sustainable
Interested growers / wood processors / end-users
Trees that grow
Fast; straight; disease, drought, frost resistant…
Growth and yield models / siting
A good product
Consistent properties; natural durability, low growth strain; high heartwood percentage; no collapse; high stiffness…

3. Growing durable eucalypts Euan Mason / Justin Morgenroth / Serajis Salekin (PhD)
Species choice and siting
More important than for radiata
Silvicultural management
Forest establishment practices
Stocking management
Rotation length
Coppice
Growth & yield projection

4. Disease resistance Tara Murray / Huimin Lin (PhD)
Insect herbivores
Continue to arrive from Australia
All present in NZDFI sites, occasional severe outbreaks possible

5. Insect herbivores Tolerance – management Tolerance – species selection
Eucalypts can naturally cope with insect herbivores
How much productivity / time do we loose due to different levels of defoliation
When is it economic to manage insects herbivores – i.e. when do we spray?
Tolerance – species selection
Field assessment of natural variation in levels of defoliation sustained by genetically distinct species and families

6. Tree breeding
Large gains can be achieved by improving genetics; i.e. selecting superior trees Common in agriculture - Less common in forestry - UNCOMMON for wood properties
Corn
Avocado
Banana

7. Successful breeding requires Luis Apiolaza
Economic importance
Variability
Typical high
Genetic control
Typical high for wood quality traits
Being able to assess many individuals (10,000s)
The more individuals are assessed the more likely it is to find an exceptional individual
The effort (sample size) increases exponentially with the number of targeted traits
Need for quick and cheap wood quality assessments!

8. Traits Tree growth Product quality Growth Form Frost resistance
Disease resistance
Drought resistance …
Product quality
Heartwood quantity
Natural durability
Growth strain
Collapse
Stiffness …

9. Wood quality Clemens Altaner, Nick Davies (PhD), Jackley Li (PhD), Gayatri Mishra (PhD)
Only the heartwood is naturally durable and has colour
Variation of heartwood in 4-yr E. bosistoana:
0-75 (mean 13) (D%)
Needs to be considered in growth modelling
Need for sapwood market
Quick assessment with methyl bromide staining (pH indicator)

10. Natural durability Difficult to measure directly
Primarily caused by extractives
Variation of ethanol solubles in 4-yr E. bosistoana:
(mean 8.6) (wt%)

11. NIR spectroscopy Measurements within seconds
Solid samples (no sample preparation)
Direct measure of chemical composition

12. Heartwood assessments
Require a core sample of trees with heartwood
Coring not trivial
Fast – many trees
High density – large forces
Small trees – small hole / core
Close to ground – frame
Older trees: 5+ years
Delayed selection
Earlier assessment possible?
Development of new coring tool with Callaghan Innovation

13. Growth-strain
Restricting large scale use of plantation grown eucalypts for solid timber (to chips for pulp)
Needs to be removed when going beyond posts and poles
LVL
Sawn timber
NZFFA

14. Growth-strain variability
E. bosistoana age 2
Difference between families
→ Heritable
Growth strain can be cured by breeding

15. Growth-strain assessment
Split length (L)
Opening (Y0)
Small end
Large end
Growth-strain ε
ε = Y * R / (0.87 * L2)
Assessment takes 1-2 minutes
→ large numbers can be screened
→ early screening at age 1-2

16. Woodville trial February 2015
~200 families
E. bosistoana
E. argophloia
~50 replicates
→11,000+ trees
Assessed at age 1-2 for:
Growth strain
Stiffness
Collapse
Early growth
Early form
Scale only manageable and affordable by early selection!

17. Thank you