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The Wood Quality in Tree Breeding Quandary
Authors: W.R.J. SuttonPublication: New Zealand Journal of Forestry, Volume N.Z.J.For. 2010, Issue N.Z.J.For. 55(2) 2010, pp 21, Aug 2010
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry
Abstract: Editor’s Note. Professor John Walker contributed a provocative paper “Breeding - getting the most from radiata pine” to The May issue of The Tree Grower. This was distributed together with the May edition of the Journal. Both Wink Sutton and Rowland Burdon have responded. It is easy for Dr Walker (an academic and not an expert in tree breeding) to advocate very early tree selection (as early as age 2) as a means of improving the structural properties of radiata pine. I am not qualified to comment on the feasibility of selecting trees at such an early age. However, a lifetime in silvicultural research and of thinking about what wood properties offer the best long-term export prospects for our radiata pine has convinced me that the issue is much more complex than Dr Walker’s simple view.