Quantitative and molecular genetics of juvenile wood traits in radiata and slash/Caribbean pines

The project has made benchmark progress in understanding the genetic control of wood formation and interrelationships among wood traits.  The project has made 15 primary scientific findings and several results have been adopted by industry.

The breeding values for 7,078 trees from the Southern Tree Breeders Association (STBA) breeding population for deployment and breeding purposes in the third generation of breeding were adopted since 2004 with an expected gain of 12.4% in wood density.

The estimated net present value was more than $A400 million for selection from progeny of the second generation to third generation of breeding population for STBA members and more than $A800 million for the entire radiata pine plantation estate using genetic results from Juvenile Wood Initiative (JWI) in combination with results from breeding objective project.

Reference Number:
PNC050-0304

Findings Report:
PNC050-0304_Juvenile_Wood_Initiative_Research_Report_0.pdf