Research in Forest 

 Genetics 



Two major aspects of 

 regeneration research are 

 tree and seed selection 

 and the longer term task of 

 breeding superior trees. 

 Over the past several 

 decades, genetic improve- 

 ment of the southern pines 

 has evolved from an idea in 

 the minds of farsighted 

 scientists to an integral part 

 of forest management. 



As early as the 1920's, P.C. 

 Wakeley and others under- 

 took research to determine 

 the comparative survival 

 and growth of southern 

 pines originating from 

 different places and parent 

 lines. These and many 

 subsequent studies soon 

 demonstrated the impor- 

 tance of genetic selection 

 to obtain seed from appro- 

 priate areas and parent 

 trees, and to select high- 

 quality nursery stock for 

 field planting. Selections of 

 longleaf pines for example, 

 turned up individual trees 

 of high resistance to the 

 brownspot needle disease. 

 These trees have yielded 

 open-pollinated progeny 

 with considerable resistance 

 to brownspot, and inter- 

 crosses have yielded highly 



resistant offspring (Snyder 

 and Derr 1972). 



Other progeny tests of 

 selected superior trees of 

 longleaf pine confirmed 

 observations that trees 

 from gulf coast sources 

 were superior in survival 

 and growth to trees from 

 elsewhere (Bey and Snyder 

 1978). Family variation 

 within a region proved to 

 be large enough to permit 

 additional genetic gains. 

 And progeny of crosses of 

 elite trees showed higher 

 survival, less brownspot, 

 and more wood volume 

 than average trees. 



Tree-improvement work 

 with slash pine began as 

 early as 1 941 at Olustee, 

 FL, with the aim of develop- 

 ing trees with high gum 

 yields for the ailing gum 

 naval stores industry. The 

 finding that individual trees 

 varied greatly in gum- 

 yielding ability was a major 

 stimulus to efforts to select 

 and breed superior trees. 

 Ensuing research by H.L 

 Mitchell, C.R. Gansel, and 

 others led to establishment 

 of "turpentine" seed or- 

 chards consisting of strains 

 of pines with high gum 



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