Tree breeding

The objectives of a tree breeding program range from yield improvement and adaptation to particular conditions, to pest- and disease-resistance, wood properties, etc.

Optimising can mean adapting strategies and methods to certain species, groups of populations, structures of genetic variation and modes of inheritance of the important traits to obtain the highest benefit per unit of time.

Optimising is usually carried out at the following levels: Computer simulations, based on defined algorithms, are frequently used: either incorporating random variations (stochastic) or not (deterministic).

[5] Newton's (2003)[6] systematic review of yield responses of white spruce and 3 other North American conifers to forest tree improvement practices indicated that correct provenance-progeny selection could yield juvenile height growth gains of about 12% at 20 years for white spruce, and a corresponding merchantable productivity (mean annual merchantable volume increment) gain of 26% at 50 years for plantations established at nominal initial densities on medium-to-good quality sites.

Also, preliminary estimates derived from individual case studies indicated that first generational selection strategies for white spruce could increase merchantable productivity by approximately 20% at 45 years.