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2.09.01 - Seed orchards

UNIT NOTICEBOARD

2022-02-15

New Publication on Seed Orchards

Seed Orchards: Establishment, Management and Genetics.
Kang, Kyu-Suk & Bilir, Nebi. (2021). ISBN 978-975-93943-9-4.

In many important forest countries seed orchards are the major work horse to get the progress made in forest tree breeding out into the forest. In addition, seeds from seed orchards have advantages over natural seeds. And yet, seed orchards get less attention than other more futuristic subjects like vegetative propagation and molecular breeding.

While earlier books on forest tree breeding only had chapters about seed orchards or about special types of seed orchards or limited regions, the focus of this whole book is on seed orchards, as they often are a more important tool which does not seem likely to be replaced in the foreseeable future.


Details - Description  

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Coordinator:

Tomas Funda, Sweden

Deputies:

In-Sik Kim, Korea (Rep)

Georgeta Mihai, Romania

About Unit

The main objective of this Working Party on "Seed Orchards" is to facilitate exchange of information on the research and progress of seed orchards and seed crops. Seed orchards are the link between research and breeding towards better forests, and better forests help in solving future problems of the World, like shortage of raw materials, energy, climate changing and sustainability. Scientific research for improving seed orchards and discussion for sharing experiences and progress are keys to that goal. This research unit draws together those interested in research and management strategies concerning genetics of seed orchard, management of seed production, flowering, seed physiology and technology, injuries and protection, economics, seed dormancy, testing and storage; impact on seed orchards, ecosystems on landscapes and national level, and conservation.


State of Knowledge

Seed orchards are in much of the world the main supplier of forest generation material, and the use of seed orchard seed as well as their quality is continuously rising. The genetic gain from seed orchards is increasing, and much accumulated knowledge becomes available.  So the reason for having an IUFRO Unit focusing on seed orchards seems to be increasing! Thus we started efforts to get an IUFRO working party on seed orchards. After a long process, this 'Seed Orchards' Working Party was finally inaugurated in October 2008. The history of this WP and more related information can be found on: http://daglindgren.upsc.se/SeedOrchardWP/.