32 | Sector Focus: British Timber
SUMMARY
■Maelor Forest Nurseries is a commercial tree nursery at the cutting edge of genetic technology
■It is a founder member of the Conifer Breeding Co-operative
■The Co-op was awarded £1m from Defra’s Tree Production Innovation Fund
■The three projects the fund has enabled are running until March 2025
BREEDING RESILIENCE
Ben Goh, commercial manager at Maelor Forest Nurseries Ltd, explains the work of the Conifer Breeding Co-operative and the importance of producing resilient timber supplies
As the demand for home-grown timber becomes ever greater, and with forest planting failing to keep pace with this predicted growth in demand, the imperative to grow the best quality trees has never been greater. Our future forests need to supply us with resilient trees that grow faster, with enhanced quality traits such as stem straightness and density.
Maelor Forest Nurseries is a commercial tree nursery at the cutting edge of genetic technology, striving to produce the most productive trees. Maelor is also a founder member of the Conifer Breeding Co-operative (CBC, previously the Sitka Spruce Breeding Co-operative), an initiative dedicated to improving the quality of our home-grown timber.
The founding aims of the Conifer Breeding Co-operative were to maintain a supply of improved vegetatively propagated Sitka spruce resource for growers and to continue the valuable breeding programme undertaken by the Forestry Commission over many decades. Its programme of tree breeding activities is historically funded and delivered almost entirely through the core membership. The CBC currently has nine core members, comprising a mix of public and private sector organisations, and is, of course, always looking for new members. Its work seeks to improve yield and timber quality whilst also focusing on resilience by ensuring good genetic diversity is present in breeding populations.
Above: Ben Goh is commercial manager at Maelor Forest Nurseries
CBC’s plans to take forward breeding of productive conifer species gained a major boost under Defra’s Tree Production Innovation Fund (TPIF); the Co-op was awarded a total of £1m for three projects
TTJ | September/October 2024 |
www.ttjonline.com
running from July 2022 – March 2025. This has enabled the CBC to broaden its focus to encompass the selection and improvement of Norway spruce, Douglas fir, and Scots pine, three commercially important conifers with a key role in diversifying existing forests whilst improving timber supply.
The three projects are as follows:
TPIF 39: INJECTING DIVERSITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE INTO ALTERNATIVE CONIFERS An ambitious project to assemble full breeding populations of Norway spruce and Douglas fir. This will be achieved by the selection and grafting of ‘Plus Trees’ from all regions of the UK.
Four new Douglas fir and three new Norway spruce orchards are planned to increase both the quantity and quality of seed available to the industry. The orchards will also provide the base resource required to initiate a programme of testing to work towards improved genetic materials. In addition to assembling the physical materials required for conventional seed production and breeding, CBC is harnessing the power of genomic science to undertake DNA analysis of all Plus Trees going into the orchards. Genomic profiling will allow us to evaluate the genetic diversity of UK Norway spruce and Douglas fir populations and will also ensure full traceability of all breeding stock.
Data will be collected on genetic variation in growth, form and timber properties from Douglas fir progeny tests and volume estimates from ‘genetic gain’ trials which compare crops from different European seed orchards. It is hoped that the data will identify
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105
