Öje Danell. (1991). Survey of past, current and future Swedish forest tree breeding. Silva Fennica vol. 25 no. 4 article id 5463. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15621

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; Betula pendula; Picea abies; Sweden; Pinus contorta; seed orchards; forest tree breeding; breeding programmes

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The paper gives an introduction of the tree breeding program of Sweden that started in 1936 by the establishment of an association for the tree breeding. In 1967 the Institute of Forest Improvement was founded and it replaced the earlier association. The main species in the programme have been Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), lately also birch (mainly Betula pendula Roth.) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). In addition, limited breeding has been done also with hybrid aspen (Populus tremula x P. tremuloides), oak (Quercus), larch (Larix), black spruce (Picea mariana) and a few other native and exotic species. The dominating initial effort has been to select plustrees in natural stands and use them for production of reforestation material. In addition, a considerable body of tests was built. The paper lists the status of breeding material of the different tree species and introduces the medium and short-term breeding programmes.

Danell, E-mail: –

Category : Research article

article id 132, category Research article

Mats Berlin, Lars Lönnstedt, Gunnar Jansson, Öje Danell, Tore Ericsson. (2010). Developing a Scots pine breeding objective: a case study involving a Swedish sawmill. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 4 article id 132. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.132

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; economic weights; bio-economic model; tree breeding; multi-trait selection

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The aim of this study was to develop a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) breeding objective for a vertically integrated sawmill in northern Sweden. The production system was defined as comprising the sawmill and the forests supplying it. Volume per hectare, wood density, survival and straightness were used as objective traits and the related selection criteria were measurements, collected at young tree age, of height, diameter, pilodyn penetration, vitality and straightness. A bio-economic model was used to calculate economic weights for the objective traits identified. We also investigated the efficiency of different selection indices based on these economic weights, in combination with available data on genetic parameters. Furthermore, we studied the effect of different discount rates on the calculated economic weights. The results showed that, compared to the full index (which included all selection criteria), omitting either vitality or straightness had a negligible effect, reducing predicted profit gain per hectare by less than one per cent. Height or diameter each had a greater effect, with a loss of predicted profit gain per hectare of up to 6%. Excluding pilodyn penetration from the selection index caused the largest reduction in predicted profit gain per hectare, amounting to over 10%. However, when both height and diameter were removed the predicted profit gain per hectare dropped to one-third of that based on the full index. Finally, ranking and genetic selection for the developed breeding objective was insensitive to changes in the discount rate.

Berlin, Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: mats.berlin@skogsforsk.se
Lönnstedt, Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: ll@nn.se
Jansson, Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: gj@nn.se
Danell, Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: od@nn.se
Ericsson, Skogforsk, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: te@nn.se

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles

Follow @SilvaFennica