Raj: Created page with "Category:DeepDive Category:Rajkumar ==Evaluation of wood microstructure in short rotation pulp wood trees to breed for optimum commercial benefit in terms of growth a..."

2016-07-11T02:46:20Z

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==Evaluation of wood microstructure in short rotation pulp wood trees to breed for optimum commercial benefit in terms of growth and wood traits.==

Pulp wood requirement of paper mills in India is met from short rotation species like Eucalyptus, Subabul and Casuarina grown in farmlands. Though India is one of the largest growers of Eucalyptus, the site quality is much inferior to other countries like Brazil and China and hence low pulp yielding E. camaldulensis is cultivated due to its tolerance to drought and other edaphic factors. It is observed that there is a tradeoff between wood volume production and pulp yield in the E. camaldulensis whereas simultaneous improvement in both parameters is achieved in species like E. globulus and E. grandis. Hence we have embarked on interspecific hybrid production to lift both parameters from the current levels. There are however other parameters like wood density and moisture content that are also important to get higher net returns from unit wood procured by the mill. In the current improvement programme that has reached joint POC and farmer demonstration stage, wood yield in terms of tonnage is the major focus, as it is of paramount interest to the farmer. We have however ensured that pulp yield will not be less than 47% in the core area of the mill.

The breeding facility at Kovai has enabled us to achieve this capability using conventional and marker assisted breeding. The pure species and hybrid clones shortlisted after multi location trials are in evaluation phase and being fast tracked for commercial release. The first level of improvement has used the methods used widely by tree breeders focusing on genotype evaluation across sites and clone testing for growth and pulp yield.

In clones with the same green wood volume, wood traits like density, moisture content and pulp yield can vary as it is determined by the wood structural constitution. Wood microstructure evaluation has not received much attention in pulp industry, as pulp yield and wood density are heritable traits which can be improved through controlled breeding in subtropical eucalypts. Variation in pulp yield and wood density is substantial across dry and moist sites in tropical countries like India since E. camaldulensis adapts to the environment by modifying the wood structure, to suite the climatic conditions. Hybrids with E. camaldulensis as one of the parents have a different wood structure that helps to break the tight balance between traits.

The proposed project aims to evaluate the wood properties in Eucalyptus, Casuarina and Subabul to develop genotypes with suitable wood structure for achieving the optimum balance between wood density and pulp yield that can give a significant commercial advantage to pulp wood industry. The following are the major objectives of the study.

# Evaluation of wood structure difference between different pulp wood species
# Understand the anatomical basis for a tradeoff between traits in each species
# Evaluate the structural variation in hybrids in relation to pure species
# Develop a breeding strategy to achieve the optimum commercial benefit to grower and industry.
# Evaluate management strategies to achieve optimum benefit from each species.

Wood Microstructure - Revision history

Raj: Created page with "Category:DeepDive Category:Rajkumar ==Evaluation of wood microstructure in short rotation pulp wood trees to breed for optimum commercial benefit in terms of growth a..."