Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development
Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development
Strengthening Capacity in Forest Tree Seed Technologies Serving
Research and Development Activities and ex-situ Conservation
(No. 058/04VIE)
GENETIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR
EUCALYPTS IN VIETNAM
by
Khongsak Pinyopusarerk1, Le Dinh Kha2 and Chris Harwood
1 Ensis Genetics, PO Box E4008, Kingston,
ACT 2604, Australia
2 Research Centre for Forest Tree Improvement,
Forest Science Institute of Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam
3 Ensis Tasmania, Private Bag 12, Hobart
TAS 7001, Australia
December 2006
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENETIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR ............................................................................... 1
EUCALYPTS IN VIETNAM ................................................................................................... 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................................... 4
1 Introduction and Background ............................................................................................ 6
1.1 Species-Provenance Trial in the Lowlands of Central Vietnam ............................... 6
1.2 Species-Provenance Trials in the Southern Highlands.............................................. 8
1.3 Current Eucalypt Species in Reforestation Programs ............................................... 8
2 Genetic Improvement of Eucalyptus species in Vietnam.................................................. 9
2.1 Candidate Plus Tree Selection and Clonal Testing ................................................... 9
2.2 Development of Eucalypt Hybrids ............................................................................ 9
2.3 Open Pollinated Progeny Trials Developed into Seedling Seed Orchards.............. 10
2.4 The Need for a Genetic Improvement Strategy and Plan........................................ 10
3 Basic Elements of Planning Tree Improvement.............................................................. 11
3.1 Need for a Well Defined Strategy and Plan ............................................................ 11
3.2 Clear Objectives ...................................................................................................... 11
3.4 Selection and Mating............................................................................................... 12
3.5 Personnel and Funding ............................................................................................ 13
3.6 Hybrid breeding....................................................................................................... 13
4. Determinants of a Breeding Strategy .............................................................................. 15
4.1 Breeding Objective.................................................................................................. 15
4.2 Economic Weights................................................................................................... 15
4.3 Deployment Objective............................................................................................. 15
4.4 Selection Criteria and Traits for Selection .............................................................. 16
4.5 Genetic Resources ................................................................................................... 16
5 Breeding Strategy ............................................................................................................ 20
5.1 Outline of Breeding Strategy................................................................................... 20
5.2 Expected Genetic Gains .......................................................................................... 21
5.3 Breeding Population ................................................................................................ 22
5.3.1 Structure of the Main Population .................................................................... 22
5.3.2 Structure of the Elite Population ..................................................................... 22
6 Outlines of Improvement Plan ........................................................................................ 23
6.1 Eucalyptus urophylla............................................................................................... 23
6.1.1 Main breeding population and seedling seed orchard ..................................... 23
6.1.2 Elite population and clone bank/clonal seed orchard ...................................... 23
6.1.3 Selection of candidate trees for the second generation ................................... 28
6.1.4 Conversion of trials to seed orchards .............................................................. 29
6.2 Eucalyptus pellita .................................................................................................... 29
6.2.1 Main breeding population and seedling seed orchard (optional) .................... 30
6.2.2 Elite population and clone bank/clonal seed orchard ...................................... 30
6.2.3 Selection of candidate trees for the second generation ................................... 32
6.2.4 Conversion of trials to seed orchards ..................................................................... 33
6.3.1 Main breeding population and seedling seed orchard ..................................... 34
6.3.2 Elite population and clone bank/clonal seed orchard (optional) ..................... 34
6.3.3 Selection of candidate trees for the second generation................................... 36
6.2.4 Conversion of trials to seed orchard....................................................................... 36
6.4 Eucalyptus grandis .................................................................................................. 37
6.4.1 Main breeding population and seedling seed orchard ..................................... 37
6.4.2 Elite population and clone bank/clonal seed orchard (optional) ..................... 37
6.4.3 Selection of candidate trees for the second generation ................................... 39
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6.4.4 Conversion of trials to seed orchard....................................................................... 39
6.5 Eucalyptus camaldulensis ....................................................................................... 40
6.5.1 Main breeding population and seedling seed orchard ..................................... 40
6.5.2 Cloning of the progeny trial ............................................................................ 40
6.5.3 Establishment of clonal trials .......................................................................... 41
6.5.4 Conversion to clonal seed orchard .................................................................. 41
7 Program Review .............................................................................................................. 42
References ............................................................................................................................... 43
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Government of Vietnam (GoV) has embarked on a massive tree plantation program. By
2010 it plans to establish an additional 5 million hectares of plantations on bare hills and
degraded forest lands, over and above the current plantation estate of one million ha, plus the
equivalent of more than 50,000 hectares of community forests in scattered plantings. This
dramatic expansion requires equally dramatic increases in the amounts of genetically-
superior seed suitable for the different ecological zones in Vietnam. The GoV is committed
to improving the amounts and qualities of tree seed produced from its own seed orchards,
which is a more sustainable strategy than depending on imported seed. Exotic species such as
acacias and eucalypts are important species included in the planting programs.
In order to enhance the productivity of the plantations in Vietnam, genetic improvement
programs have been carried out for many tree species mainly by the Research Centre for
Forest Tree Improvement of the Forest Science Institute of Vietnam. However, these works
have been conducted without a written plan that follows a clearly defined genetic
improvement strategy. As part of AusAID-supported CARD project (No. 058/04VIE)
“Strengthening Capacity in Forest Tree Seed Technologies Serving Research and
Development Activities and ex-situ Conservation” a genetic improvement plan has been
developed focusing on priority Eucalyptus species. A separate CARD project (No.
032/05VIE) “Sustainable and profitable development of acacia plantations for sawlog
production in Vietnam” will soon develop a genetic improvement plan for acacias. It should
also be stressed that the approaches discussed in this breeding strategy are applicable for
most tree species.
Breeding populations of five Eucalyptus species (E. camaldulensis, E. grandis, E. pellita, E.
tereticornis and E. urophylla) already set up by the Research Centre for Forest Tree
Improvement provide the basis for genetic improvement framework being addressed by this
improvement plan. However, greater effort and input are put into E. urophylla as the highest
priority Eucalyptus species for pure and interspecific hybrid breeding. Other species have
been managed less extensively with an aim to use them as pollen sources for interspecific
hybridisation.
The proposed breeding strategy is based on a structured breeding population that is divided
into two levels based on genetic quality. That is the breeding population is subdivided into
two parts, a ‘Main (large) Population’ and an ‘Elite (small) Population’. The populations
have several distinct functions in the breeding program, and a large part of the breeding
strategy in each generation deals with the plan that specifies the selection, breeding and
management of these two components of the breeding populations. As interspecific
hybridisation is receiving increasing interest, the ‘Elite Population’ is the source of genetic
material used for interspecific hybrid crossing, in addition to it being one of the sources of
pure-species clones for operation deployment. Therefore, the strategy places maximum
emphasis on this population to ensure maximum genetic progress. The ‘Main Population’
provides for gene conservation and long-term, sustained genetic progress, by providing new
selection to the ‘Elite Population’ each generation.
For the ‘Main Population’ there is only a single type of genetic test (open-pollinated progeny
test) for each generation. The families and individual trees within families are ranked using
the test data, and selection are made to move up to enrich the gene pool of the ‘Elite
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Population’ and to regenerate the next generation’s Main Population. The overall strategy in
the Main Population can be defined as recurrent selection for general combining ability.
A greater emphasis is placed on the breeding, testing and selection of the Elite Population
each generation, because the clones derived from the Elite Population serve as the clones for
use in operational plantations and for intra- and interspecific hybridisation. Controlled
crosses are made between selections of the same species and of other species. Vegetative
propagation of the progeny and clonal testing is used for forward selection of the best clones
for operational use. The very top ranking clones only are used for interspecific hybridisation.
A time plan for operation is provided for each species. It should be treated as a general guide
only. A more detailed work program providing month-by-month activity schedules should be
prepared by the Research Centre for Forest Tree Improvement taking into consideration both
administrative possibilities and technical limitations.
It is common for every genetic improvement plan to be reviewed and may be revised after
some period of operation. This genetic improvement plan is no exception and should be
subject to an independent review after 2 years into the program.
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