Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials
dc.contributor.author | Spencer, Beren | |
dc.contributor.author | Mazanec, Richard | |
dc.contributor.author | Gibberd, Mark | |
dc.contributor.author | Zerihun, Ayalsew | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2021-02-24T05:16:10Z | |
dc.date.available | 2021-02-24T05:16:10Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2021 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Spencer, B. and Mazanec, R. and Gibberd, M. and Zerihun, A. 2021. Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials. Tree Genetics & Genomes. 17: Article No. 15. | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82653 | |
dc.description.abstract |
Eucalyptus polybractea has been planted as a short-rotation coppice crop for bioenergy in Western Australia. Historical breeding selections were based on sapling biomass and despite a long history as a coppice crop, the genetic parameters of coppicing are unknown. Here, we assessed sapling biomass at ages 3 and 6 from three progeny trials across southern Australia. After the second sapling assessment, all trees were harvested. Coppice biomass was assessed 3.5 years later. Mortality following harvest was between 1 and 2%. Additive genetic variance for the 6-sapling estimate at one site was not significant. Sapling heritabilities were between 0.06 and 0.36 at 3 years, and 0.18 and 0.20 at 6 years. The heritability for the coppice biomass was between 0.07 and 0.17. Within-site genetic and phenotypic correlations were strong between all biomass assessments. Cross-site correlations were not different from unity. Selections based on net breeding values revealed positive gains in sapling and coppice biomass. Lower or negative gains were estimated if 3-year sapling selections were applied to the coppice assessments (−7.1% to 3.4%) with useful families culled. Positive gains were obtained if 6-year sapling selections were applied to the coppice assessment (6.4% to 9.3%) but these were lower than those obtained by applying coppice selections to the coppice assessment (8.4% to 14.8%). Removal of poor performing families and families that displayed fast sapling growth rates but under-performed as coppice will benefit potential coppice production. These results indicate that selections should be made using coppice data. | |
dc.publisher | Springer Nature | |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
dc.title | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials | |
dc.type | Journal Article | |
dcterms.source.issn | 1614-2942 | |
dcterms.source.title | Tree Genetics & Genomes | |
dc.date.updated | 2021-02-24T05:16:10Z | |
curtin.department | School of Molecular and Life Sciences (MLS) | |
curtin.accessStatus | Open access | |
curtin.faculty | Faculty of Science and Engineering | |
curtin.contributor.orcid | Zerihun, Ayalsew [0000-0002-6021-9624] | |
curtin.contributor.orcid | Spencer, Beren [0000-0001-5475-0251] | |
curtin.contributor.scopusauthorid | Zerihun, Ayalsew [6602180048] |