Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials
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 a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Springer Nature
2021
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82653 |
| _version_ | 1848764530345115648 |
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| author | Spencer, Beren Mazanec, Richard Gibberd, Mark Zerihun, Ayalsew |
| author_facet | Spencer, Beren Mazanec, Richard Gibberd, Mark Zerihun, Ayalsew |
| author_sort | Spencer, Beren |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:20:49Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-82653 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:20:49Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-826532021-03-15T01:43:30Z Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials Spencer, Beren Mazanec, Richard Gibberd, Mark Zerihun, Ayalsew 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. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82653 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Springer Nature fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Spencer, Beren Mazanec, Richard Gibberd, Mark Zerihun, Ayalsew Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title_full | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title_fullStr | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title_short | Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| title_sort | sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/82653 |