ICFR & Central Regional Interest Group Field
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ICFR & Central Regional Interest Group Field Day Theme: Silvicultural Research in the Central Region Date: Tuesday, 16 th November 2004 Venue: Mondi Forests, Nursery Hall, Piet Retief Time: 08.30-14.30 PROGRAMME 08.30 TEATEATEA IN-HOUSE PRESENTATIONS 09.00 Welcome: Central Region Interest Group Chairperson 2004 Siggie von Fintel 09.15 Accessing information from the ICFR. Sally Upfold 09.40 3-year results of mid-altitude eucalypt site-species interaction trials. Robin Gardner 10.10.000000 TEATEATEA 10.30 Pine Regeneration Research: results from two pilot trials investigating the Carol Rolando effects of planting treatments and micro-environment on survival and growth of P. patula. 11.00 Characterising P. patula slash loads for use in fire models and nutritional Tim Ross studies. 11.15 Harvesting biomass and nutritional sustainability of Acacia mearnsii . Steven Dovey 11.40 Update on eucalypt mensuration trials. Trevor Morley IN-FIELD PRESENTATIONS 12.00 Travel to field stop. 12.15 The effect of different re-establishment practices on eucalypt survival and growth Paul Viero across three sites. 13.00 LUNCH kindly sponsored by Mondi/Sappi Committee members please note: We will meet for 30 mins after the field day has ended to plan the programme for 2005. NB. The Next ICFR Field Day will be held in conjunction with the Zululand Interest Group on Thursday 18 ththth November 2004. For more information contact: • Denis Oscroft (ICFR) 035035----55050465505046 • Tim Netterville (Sappi Forests) 035035----58012115801211 © ICFR 2004 Page 1 ICFR Central Regional Field Day Accessing information from the ICFR. Sally J Upfold ([email protected]) Institute for Commercial Forestry Research, PO Box 100281, Scottsville 3209 Summary: The Institute for Commercial Forestry Research publishes a range of information on its research outputs, in the form of scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as internal publications including an Annual Research Review, quarterly newsletters, bulletins and innovation documents. All of these have two main objectives: • Give our research scientific credibility; and • Disseminate relevant information to our members. With the exception of the scientific papers, all of this information is proprietary and access to it is restricted to ICFR members, through user and password identification. Members can readily obtain access to this information through a number of sources: • Direct contact with ICFR member of staff; • Library; • ICFR website (www.icfrnet.unp.ac.za ); (available on CD) • Regional Interest Group field days; • Workshops; • Steering Committee and other meetings. In addition to housing hard copies of all ICFR publications produced since the inception of the (then) Wattle Research Institute (WRI) in 1947, the ICFR Library provides a wide range of information including: • More than 3 500 books; • 10 000 pamphlets; • Subscription to 23 forestry-related journals; • Reference handbooks; • Electronic forestry-related databases; • Access to publications from other institutions such as the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In addition, Desiree Lamoral (ICFR Librarian) provides a service answering queries and conducting literature searches around a wide range of forestry-related issues. The ICFR website (available) on CD provides the best electronic access to our publications, and includes a SEARCH facility allowing input of keywords or phrases. For more information or assistance with accessing information from the ICFR, members can contact: Sally Upfold (ICFR Editor / PRO) (033) 386 2314 / [email protected] [email protected] Desiree Lamoral (ICFR Librarian) (033) 386 2314 / [email protected] 3-year results of mid-altitude eucalypt site-species interaction trials. Robin A.W. Gardner ([email protected] ) Institute for Commercial Forestry Research, PO Box 100281, Scottsville 3209 Introduction Over the past two decades the ICFR Site-Species Interaction (SSI) Project has identified several “new” eucalypt species having good commercial potential for low productivity forestry sites in South Africa. Relative to the species currently planted on these sites, the “new” species have excelled on the basis of growth attributes such as drought, frost and snow hardiness, disease resistance and wood and pulp yield, albeit in varying combinations. With regards to temperate (cold(cold----tolerant)tolerant) eucalypteucalyptssss, new species such as E. badjensis and E. benthamii (which showed early merit in ICFR high altitude SSI trials established in 1990/1991 (Gardner, 2001a)) are already nearing the end of the 1 st generation improvement cycle in ICFR breeding trials. Provenance/ progeny trials and breeding seed orchards of other promising species such as E. nobilis , E. bicostata and E. cypellocarpa were established during the late 1990s. The latter, however, are all being managed on a much less intensive scale due to resource constraints. Regarding possible alternative eucalypts for subsubsub-sub ---tropicaltropical areasareas, 1 st generation tree improvement trials of the “new” species E. henryi and E. longirostrata (species selected for their excellent performance in the ICFR 1992 Zululand SSI trials (Gardner, 2001b)) were established by the ICFR during 2001. Site-species interaction research work continues in Zululand, with the emphasis being on exploring the drought-tolerance thresholds of all promising “new” species (Gardner, 2004). There is still much uncertainty about the climatic and edaphic flexibility of these new species. e.g. with regards to the upper mean annual temperatures (MAT) and lower MAT thresholds of the temperate and subtropical eucalypt species respectively. Such information is essential for breeders and/or plantation planners to maximise the potential gain offered by these “new” species. A significant step towards achieving this was the establishment of a new site-species interaction trial series across a range of mid-altitude sites in KwaZulu-Natal ( Table 1 . during February 2001. The trials include a selected range of genetic material including all the temperate and sub-tropical eucalypt species which performed well in the ICFR high-altitude and Zululand site-species trials during the 1990s (Table 2 ). Results 1. Overall trends • Commercial controls: E. grandis (14.9 m 2/ha) followed by E. dunnii (13.7 m 2/ha) are the best performing controls at this stage ( Table 3 ). The overall performance of E. smithii has been hampered by the poor stocking at SGE44 “Eersteling” resulting from trees succumbing to Phytophthora root-rot disease. • “New” species: the temperate eucalypts E. benthamii (Bents Basin 14.0 m 2/ha and Kedumba Valley 12.7 m 2/ha) and closely related E. dorrigoensis (Tyringham 13.5 m 2/ha) are performing exceptionally well ( Table 3 ). Eucalyptus deanei (Kedumba Valley 11.4 m 2/ha and Mt Spirabo 11.3 m 2/ha) is also performing well, followed by E. nobilis (Nullo Mt 11.2 m 2/ha) and E. saligna (Kenilworth SF 11.2 m 2/ha). • In general, the sub-tropical species (e.g. E. henryi , E. longirostrata , E. punctata and E. maculata ), which performed well on the Zululand coastal plain, have not taken kindly to the cooler inland conditions. In contrast to this, the temperate species E. benthamii , E. badjensis , E. nobilis , etc. have “transferred” relatively well to the warmer, lower altitude conditions. • E. badjensis apparent poor adaptation to altitudes <1100 m or MATs > 17.0 0 C is mainly due to its apparent susceptibility to Phytophthora root-rot under such warm conditions, similar to its close relative E. smithii in this regard. Nevertheless, the species is still performing well and appears free of Phytophtera infection at the cooler SGE43 “Rooipoort” and SGE41 “Rockvale” sites (15.7 and 16.3 0 C MAT, respectively). 2. Trends at SGE44 “Eersteling”, Paulpietersburg. • SGE44 “Eersteling” recorded the lowest mean basal area of all sites ( Table 3 ), indicating that this site is the least productive of all four. • Commercial controls: If Eucalyptus is management’s preferred option, then “cold-tolerant” E. grandis (11.8 m 2/ha) followed by E. dunnii (11.0 m 2/ha) appear to be the best options for similar sites in the area ( Table 4 ). The Eersteling site is prone to occasional fairly severe frosts, yet neither seedlot appear to have suffered unduly from observed frost-scorch. • “New” species: the E. dorrigoensis Tyringham provenance (12.6 m 2/ha) and E. benthamii Bents Basin and Kedumba provenances (11.3 and 10.5 m 2/ha, respectively) are the best performing seedlots and appear to have good potential for such sites. Eucalyptus deanei and E. saligna , both close relatives of E. grandis , are the second and third best options at this stage ( TaTaTableTa blebleble 444). References Gardner R.A.W. 2001a. Site-species interaction studies with cold-tolerant eucalypts at high altitudes in South Africa. In: Proceedings of IUFRO Working Group 2.08.03 Conference “ Developing the eucalypt of the future ”, Valdivia, Chile, 10-15 September 2001 (on CD-ROM only). Gardner R.A.W. 2001b. Alternative eucalypt species for Zululand: Seven year results from site-species interaction trials in the region. Southern African Forestry Journal , 190:79-88. Gardner R A W. 2004. Selection of Eucalyptus species and provenances for hot, dry conditions in northern, coastal Zululand, South Africa. In “ Eucalyptus in a changing world ” (Eds. N.M.G. Borralho, J.S. Pereira, C. Marques, J. Coutinho, M. Madeira and M. Tomé) p 168-170. Proc. IUFRO Conf., Aveiro, 11-15 Oct. (RAIZ, Instituto Investiga ςão da Floresta