308 • Impacts of Applied Genetics — Micro-Organisms, Piants, and Animals 
dustrial science. While it may seem that the invest- 
ment has been disproportional to the returns at this 
point, it must be remembered that they are the fore- 
runners of a new technology, both in terms of work- 
ing with mature tree tissues of an especially intricate 
species and in terms of imposing stringent industrial 
standards on a mass biological production system. 
Simpson Timber Co. 
The Simpson Timber Co., whose central headquar- 
ters are in Seattle, Wash., is a large producer of red- 
wood and other forest products, and has been in- 
volved over the past 5 years in a program to develop 
a mass production system for the coast redwoods 
through tissue culture. Approximately $250,000 has 
been invested in research performed at the Universi- 
ty of California, Irvine, by Dr. Ernest Ball, a recog- 
nized authority in the field of tissue-cultured red- 
woods.^ 
Coastal redwoods are normally a field-seeded crop 
and have a production cycle of around 50 years. The 
major reason for consideration of tissue culture over 
seed is the greater speed with which superior trees 
might be developed through tissue culture as com- 
pared to using seed stock. Simpson Timber Co., 
which has been involved in a controlled breeding 
program along conventional lines as well, and is ap- 
proaching the creation of homozygous strains. Since 
a sequoia seedling does not reach sexual maturity 
before it is 15 to 20 years old, and since about 10 
generations are normally required to produce a ti'ue 
homozygous strain,® the classical process is time-con- 
suming and contains no guarantees that the end 
products will he better than the clones selected 
through tissue culture. 
^I'.rncsl liiil!, UnivtM'sily of (ialitbrnia, Irvine, pcM'sonal roiniminicalion 
{May n)80) with the Plant Resources Inslituli’ in iIk* working ri’port. ('om- 
inrrcinl [ 'scs of iHiinl I'issuv ( ullurr ninl Tolrnlinl Impiirl ofCriirlir l.nj;,inrrr- 
//It' 0/1 l'(H'(‘slry, prepart'd under contract to () 1 \. 
'.lames Radelius. Simpson l imher Co., personal ('omiminicalion (May 
with the Plant Resourc(*s Inslilule in the wtirkin^ rep(»ri, ( Dtwnrrrinl 
LLsrs of l*lnnl I'issin' (Uilliirc and Tolrntinl impnet of (',(‘nrlir on 
l^'orrslrv. prepared under conlract to () I \, 
Elite trees are selected from wild stands for 
straightness of trunks, height. s|)ecific gravity of 
wood, and proper branch drop (bl anches that drop 
without tearing the stem). I'here are no major pests 
in redwoods, so pest and disease resistance have not 
been a concern. Two methods of si'lection are used. 
Clones of special trees are pioduced by rooting the 
uppermost branches of the tree, a process (hat takes 
up to 1 year. .Although the rooting percentage may 
he as low as 10 percent, this method has the advan- 
tage of producing mature i loned plants that can I'on- 
tinue to |)roduce flow ers and .seed Simpson is using 
roughly 200 elite trees for these clones 
Elite trees can also prov idi’ clones througli tissue 
cultures of their nei'dies, a process that is less time- 
consuming hut which |)roduces seed veiv slowly 
because of the time involved in maturation Simp.son 
rimher Co. has planted out 2.500 tissue cultured red- 
woods for fii'ld comparisons with seedling material. 
The results so far have heiMi encouraging, luit it may 
take another 10 to 15 years helore delmite conclu- 
sions can l)(' draw n I hi' in.ijor (actors hiMug .ma- 
lyzed arc’ fic’ld grow th rates and oulplantmg surv iv .il 
percentages. ( lones of I’lite v .irietic’s w ill also liav c- to 
he compared to the p.irent trees lor the trails origi- 
nally sele.cled for. such as wood (|u.ililv Mnc c the 
opc’iational cost ot tissue-cultured planllels is about 
twice that ol seedlings, the c|ualilv ol tissue c iillured 
plants must he niarkediv superior it the program is 
to he cost c’flectiv e 
Dr. Ball is conlideni that the tissue c ullure sv stem 
w hich has been di’v c’lopi’d lor the r.ipid mulliplua- 
lion of elite’ rc’dwood trees is readv lor nnpli-menla- 
lion at a commercial produi lion lac ililv * 'Minpson 
I imhc’i' ( o. is planning the c ciosli ui lion ol ,i lissup 
culture lah at their ( alilorma head(|uaiicrs within 
ihc’ next 2 yc’ars I he pilot plant is rxpi c led to c iiM 
$250. ()()() and produc c upwards ol 200000 planllels 
in its lirsi vear ol produi lion \s ni.iss priHlui lion 
Ic’chniciuc’s are perlec led Ihi- i iimpanv pl.nis to ex- 
pand the lacililv to ,i produi tion capai ilv ot over I 
million planllels per v ear ' 
'Ikill. n|i I II 
'R.iilriiiis np « il 
