Characterising Wood Properties for Deployment of Elite Subtropical And
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Characterising wood properties for deployment of elite subtropical and tropical hardwoods Final Report Stephen J. Trueman‡*, Geoff R. Dickinson‡*, John R. Huth*, Anton Zbonak*, Jeremy T. Brawner†, Kevin J. Harding*, David J. Lee‡*, Paul Warburton†, Tracey V. McMahon‡, Amanda J. Kilkenny‡, Laura Simmons‡ and Helen M. Wallace‡ ‡Faculty of Science, Health, Education & Engineering, University of Sunshine Coast *Horticulture and Forestry Science Agri-Science Queensland Department Employment, Economic Development and Innovation †CSIRO Plant Industry March 2012 Introduction and Summary Queensland has over 42,000 hectares of hardwood plantations, with 13,700 hectares currently managed for sawn timber and high-value products. Previously, a major impediment to expansion of the hardwood sawn timber and high-value products industry in Queensland was that improved varieties of the key subtropical and tropical species were not available for plantation establishment. Trees from earlier projects, such as Hardwoods Queensland and the Private Plantations Initiative, have now reached an age where selection for growth, form and wood properties is possible. The current project used non-destructive and destructive wood evaluation techniques to characterise the timber quality of 443 subtropical and tropical Corymbia and Eucalyptus trees in these plantings, allowing selection of trees with the best growth, form and wood properties under Queensland conditions. Ecological assessments were also undertaken in the Corymbia plantings to identify germplasm that posed minimal risk of gene flow into native forests. Elite varieties are being fast tracked for deployment in Queensland using economical systems for germplasm capture and nursery production. The project identified and captured 108 new Corymbia and Eucalyptus varieties that can be grown with confidence in Queensland over a shorter rotation length and which produce well- characterised high-quality hardwood timber. The 60 Corymbia hybrid varieties selected in this project are being captured as cuttings for clonal field and propagation tests in conjunction with Clonal Solutions Australia Pty Ltd (CSA). These trials will be established in 2012–2014 as bulked-up varieties become available. CSA will provide DEEDI with ramets of the better rooting clones for testing on commercial growers’ land. Ultimately, a subset of the clones that combine the attributes of elite growth, disease resistance, form, wood properties and propagation potential will be bulked up to provide the hardwood plantation sector with a new tranche of elite Corymbia hybrid clones that are more stringently tested than the eight commercial clones currently available. Commercial clones released as part of this study will have significantly increased growth, disease resistance, form, heartwood percentage and straightness, with increased performance in the order of 30% over that of plantations established using wild Corymbia species seed. The 24 Eucalyptus argophloia and 24 Eucalyptus cloeziana varieties selected in this project are being captured as grafts for clonal seed orchards that will be established in 2012–2013 on industry partner land. Plantations established using seed from these seed orchards (expected to be available by 2015) will have increased performance in the order of 20% due to better growth, straightness and form, and increased heartwood percentage over plantations established using wild seed. The Eucalyptus pellita trees in this project were severely damaged by Cyclone Yasi in January 2011, and so it was not feasible to capture elite trees based on growth, form and wood properties. If a plantation grower wishes to plant Eucalyptus pellita in Queensland’s wet tropics, then new trials can be established rapidly using seed in stock. It will still be possible to benefit from the information captured by this project to develop Eucalyptus pellita trees with large proportions of heartwood, desirable colour and wood density. All the elite varieties from this project will be screened for resistance to myrtle rust. The Corymbia hybrid clones will also be screened for Quambalaria resistance. This will be on- going work over the next few years as material becomes available. This project also developed a preliminary risk assessment framework for gene flow from Corymbia hybrid plantations into native forests. This framework indicated a moderate to high risk of some pollen-mediated gene flow from Corymbia hybrid plantations into nearby native populations of Corymbia citriodora. There is also a risk that a very small proportion of Corymbia hybrids will possess the suite of characteristics that allow dispersal of their seeds into native forests by native bees. However, only about 1.5 trees in every 1000 will have these seed dispersal characteristics, which equates to approximately one tree per hectare. We discuss possible mitigation measures to reduce the potential risks of gene flow. This report provides a comprehensive account of achievements in the three key project areas: 1. Wood analysis of tropical and subtropical Corymbia and Eucalyptus trees; 2. Optimal propagation systems for elite Corymbia and Eucalyptus germplasm; and 3. Potential gene flow risks from Corymbia plantations. Table of Contents Introduction and Summary ................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1. Wood Analysis of tropical and subtropical Corymbia and Eucalyptus trees 1 1.1 Sourcing of material for studies .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Methodology for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of wood properties ..................................... 1 1.2.1 Standing tree acoustic wave velocity and Pilodyn penetration measures ......................... 1 1.2.2 Wood Coring ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Methodology for destructive evaluation of wood properties ....................................................... 3 1.4 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 4 1.4.1 Eucalyptus argophloia ....................................................................................................... 4 1.4.2 Eucalyptus cloeziana ....................................................................................................... 11 1.4.3 Corymbia hybrids ................................................................................................................. 17 1.4.4 E. pellita ........................................................................................................................... 27 1.5 Identification of elite trees with superior wood characteristics, growth and form ..................... 35 1.6 Summary and conclusions ....................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2. Optimal propagation systems for elite Corymbia and Eucalyptus germplasm ..........................................................................................................................37 2.1 Systems for capturing elite Eucalyptus germplasm ................................................................. 37 2.1.1 Source materials .............................................................................................................. 38 2.1.2 Experiment 1: Producing rooted cuttings of E. cloeziana from stump coppice. .................. 38 2.1.3 Experiment 2a: Genetic compatibility of rootstock and scion in E. cloeziana ................. 40 2.1.4 Experiment 2b: Genetic compatibility of rootstock and scion in E. cloeziana: evaluating Ravenshoe provenance. .................................................................................................................. 44 2.1.5 Experiment 3a: Cold moist storage potential of E. argophloia scion material. .............. 46 2.1.6 Experiment 3b: Cold moist storage potential of E. cloeziana scion material. ................ 47 2.1.7 Experiment 4: Evaluating a novel method to increase survival of E. argophloia grafts. 48 2.1.8 Discussion and conclusions: varietal capture methods for Eucalyptus ........................... 50 2.2 Optimised protocols for producing rooted cuttings of Corymbia and Eucalyptus ..................... 52 2.2.1 The potential for clonal propagation of Corymbia citriodora, Eucalyptus cloeziana and Eucalyptus dunnii ............................................................................................................................. 53 2.2.2 The optimal level of rooting hormone for propagation of the hybrids, Corymbia torelliana × Corymbia citriodora and Eucalyptus pellita × Eucalyptus grandis ................................................ 66 Chapter 3. Potential gene flow risks from Corymbia plantations ...................................82 3.1 Pollen-mediated gene flow risks from Corymbia hybrid plantations ........................................ 82 3.1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 82 3.1.2 Experiment 1: Locations of Interspecific Reproductive Isolating Barriers ....................... 83 3.1.3 Experiment 2: Gene Flow from Reciprocal and Advanced Generation Hybrids ............. 90 3.1.4 Gene flow management: Pollen flow from Corymbia hybrid plantations ....................... 105 3.2 Potential risks