Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A total of 1,112 seedlings of 14 Alnus rubra x A. glutinosa, two A. glutinosa x A. rubra, seven A. rubra x A. acuminata, and seven A. rubra x A. nepalensis families were propagated for a 2013 field experiment. Three and one-half acres have been leased in Columbia County, Oregon for the 2013 field trial as well as a 2014 trial of A. rubra x A. rhombifolia hybrids. The site is being prepared and a deer exclusion fence has been erected. Seed was collected from 11 of 16 A. rubra x A. rhombifolia crosses attempted during Phase I. Three thousand one hundred seedlings from 11 A. rubra x A. rhombifolia and reciprocal families have been propagated. Ten genotypes of each family have been randomly selected and transplanted to one gallon pots to grow to a size sufficient to clone each genotype for the 2014 field trial. The 16 A. rubra and A. rhombifolia parents used in the reciprocal mating design have been successfully cloned by grafting multiple scions from the parental ortets onto seedling understock of the same species. Grafted scions grew during 2011, entered dormancy, and flushed in 2012 as first-stage ramets. Succulent greenwood cuttings were collected and second-stage ramets now being rooted in containers. We will re-propagate the cloned parental genotypes as third-stage ramets using tertiary greenwood cuttings from the second-stage ramets in April of 2013 coincident with the cloning of their hybrid offspring. Clonal ramets of both parents and offspring will be represented in the 2014 field trial. Reproductive cuttings were collected from 20 elite A. rubra clones and used in attempting 46 2nd generation crosses. (Relatedness among the 20 1st generation selections limited the number of attempted crosses.) Seed strobili have been successfully produced for 28 of the attempted crosses. Twenty genotypes per each of 21 local A. rubra and A. rhombifolia open-pollinated seedlots are being propagated for a 2013 breeding arboretum for future exploratory hybridizations between the two species. The orchard site is being prepared at the Westport Tree Improvement Center. A factorial study was established to improve the process of greenwood macro-cutting propagation that involves two replications of a factorial combination of two levels of Frankia inoculation, two levels of phyto-hormone application, and five Alnus taxa. Stock plants of two genotypes of each of four Alnus taxa were grown in large pots for the production of greenwood shoots that were subsequently introduced into in vitro multiplication at a contract propagation laboratory. Succulent greenwood shoots were provided on three separate dates in January, April, and June 2012. Cuttings were initiated directly into in vitro culture. The first shipment of micro-cuttings has been received for greenhouse rooting trials. GreenWood Resources hosted the annual meeting of the Washington Hardwoods Commission with a field tour of SBIR alder hybridization and clonal propagation projects and clonal field trials. PARTICIPANTS: 1. HallTree Biomass - Dr. Richard B. Hall, Ames Iowa. Project consultant on alder hybridization, genetic evaluation, and vegetative propagation. 2. Microplant Nurseries - Gayle Suttle, Gervais, Oregon. Contract laboratory providing in vitro propagation services. TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. Washington Hardwoods Commission 2. Oregon and Washington Alder mills 3. Washington Farm Forestry Association PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: 1. Clonal propagation of 110 seedling genotypes of 11 A. rubra x A. rhombifolia and reciprocal families moved to 2013. 2. Hybridization of the A. rubra x A. glutinosa backcross generation reduced in number of crosses due to lack of breeding stock. We are substituting crosses between A. rhombifoloa and A. glutinosa. 3. Controlled crossing of additional second generation red alder families that failed to produce seed in 2012 will take place in 2013.
Impacts
We made the following observations during the hybridization of A. rubra and A. rhombifolia: 1. There was no apparent difference in the yield of pollen between the two species. Nor was there any apparent difference in pollen viability; 2. Scion wood of the A. rhombifolia parents was appreciably smaller than the scion wood of the A. rubra parents. Nonetheless, we did not experience any difference in grafting success. (We grafted scion wood of each species on to seedling understock of the same species.); 3. A. rubra fruits were larger than the fruits of A. rhombifolia. Perhaps as a consequence, hybrid seed produced by the A. rubra parents was noticeably larger than hybrid seed collected from the A. rhombifolia parents; 4. Seed production of the A. rubra females exceeded the production of the A. rhombifolia females by nearly five fold; 5. Germination percentage and germination energy did not appear to differ between the two species. We have successfully produced developing strobili for the majority of the second generation A. rubra crosses. Nearly all of the failed crosses result from the fact that the understock had begun to grow at the time the grafts were made in May, a consequence of a January ice storm and the subsequent late collection of scion wood in March. We observed adventitious rooting from first-order branches (layering) on trees growing in our 2009 A. glutinosa trial. This may indicate a good opportunity for adventitious rooting - and thereby clonal propagation - from detached hardwood macro-cuttings. Moreover, we will devise a method to initiate layering in a high-density nursery bed. The layered branches would be removed to make hardwood cuttings that can be replanted to complete the cloning process. This vegetative propagation technique if successful will allow cost-effective field rooting of small diameter hardwood macro-cuttings. Our ongoing attempts at clonal propagation by greenwood macro-cuttings and in vitro produced micro-cuttings have shown that: 1. The rooting and vigor of macro-cuttings is enhanced when the Frankia symbiont is directly introduced by pipetting a crushed nodule slurry in to planting containers compared with mixing forest soil with the horticultural soil used in filling the containers and 2. The A. rubra x A. glutinosa taxon initiates callus and proliferates in vitro shoots more rapidly than other alder species or inter-specific hybrid taxa.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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