Seed collection Can we improve the unimproved seeds?

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Seed collectionCan we improve the unimproved
seeds?

• UPSC 070510
• Dag Lindgren

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Considerations are on a link which can be reached
from my web http//www-genfys.slu.se/staff/dagl/F
rotakt/Utredning.htm
Only collections of Swedish Scots pine and Norway
spruce considered
Plants in Sweden dominated by Norway spruce and
Scots pine. Less than 0.5 decideous trees and
around 3 other conifers Very few clones, less
than a permille are Norway spruce cuttings!
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Seeds from Swedish unimproved stands give raise
to 1/4 of Swedish plants! In addition import of
stand seeds (mainly spruce from Belarus and
Baltic states) 10-15.
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Seed consumption is predicted to increase

• Reforestation after the storms Gudrun and Per
  increase the plant need!
• Direct seeding of Scots pine raises
• Forest production becames a higher priority and
  thus possible more planting

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• Good spruce seed harvests the last years because
  of weather add some seeds, but this is not
  sustainable
• Radical decrease of need of unimproved stand
  seeds first when the third batch of seed orchards
  become mature around 2025.

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A forest reproductive material must be derived
from an approved basic material to be marketed.
It can be a seed orchard, a seed collection stand
or a seed collection area. Information is kept on
record by Skogsstyrelsen, currently Lennart
Ackzell is responsible.
EU category EU category EU category
Svenska English Example
Känd härkomst Source identified Åmsele300 000 ha pine
Beståndsutvalt Selected
Individutvalt Qualified Skaholma Pine seed orchard
Testat Tested Alvik Pine seed orchard
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For Scots pine and Norway spruce there are no
approved seed collection stands except a few seed
orchards, which were not up to standards for
qualified. Till a few years ago there were
exceptions and transition extempts, but now the
rule is in full force. Cones and seeds can not
be collected without the permission of the
owner. Most cones are harvested on felled trees
after final felling. The annual time window for
cone collection is rather short. In August the
seeds are not ripe and in December where is snow.
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• Only some years are suitable. Cone set and seed
  maturation varies. A rough estimation can be made
  from metheorological records, based on that it is
  decided if further actions are needed
  (identification of candidate stands and analyse
  of cone samples)
• Seed maturation is often unsatisfactory for pine
  in cold areas. Insect damage can be a large
  problem in spruce. Many of these factors can be
  evaluated only on seed and cone samples, and
  there is little time for decisions between
  analyses and execution.
• Seed dealers without forest buy often cones from
  the private person arranging for the timber
  harvest on the market.
• The large companies prefer to collect cones on
  their on land
• they can coordinate the activity of cone
  collector and timber harvest
• need not agreement with land owner
• But sometimes no object in approved seed
  collection areas is not available. They can apply
  for making it permitted and this is likely to be
  given, but it is a process which takes time and
  administrative effort. The benefit is seen as
  doubtful it is just seen as a disturbance. That
  was initiating this review of the system.

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• The approvement procedure takes some time and
  administrative effort, and someone must pay for
  it.
• We know more now
• The authorities experience difficulties with the
  current system.
• The natural forests are reduced and the
  increase in planted forests make the origin and
  the pollen source more uncertain.

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The idea with seed collection areas is
historically and mentally anchored

• Tree provenances were known since some centuries.
  Provenances are different!
• Bad Scots pine seed imports from Germany caused
  ban on foreign provenances on state land and seed
  taxes around 1880.
• Mendel and race biology were important concepts
  in the end of the 30ies when forest tree breeding
  started.
• Anyone knows that heredity matters, good trees
  certainly get good progeny!!!
• To get anything else than suitable areas for seed
  collection takes lots of time and effort if at
  all possible

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• Bertil Lindqvist wrote the first textbook about
  forest tree breeding 1946. It give much emphasize
  on seed collection areas, thus expeditions and
  procedures to identify good forests.
• There was no alternative.
• Spruce was imported and when it could be
  important that Swedes actually looked at stands
  (authoctonity, size, homogeniety, records etc.).
  We got accustomed to inspections.
• The last major inspections were done 25 years
  ago, if someone want this extended they probably
  have to pay for it.

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The areas of seed collection areas as a function
of latitude and altitude Spruce to the left and
pine to the right There is no very northern
spruce. For pine it is desirable to move
southward and the seed maturation in the north is
bad. There are few seed collection areas under
100 m
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Seed collection areas for pine (orange) and
spruce (green)
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Approved seed collection areas (millions of hectar) Approved seed collection areas (millions of hectar) Approved seed collection areas (millions of hectar) Approved seed collection areas (millions of hectar) Approved seed collection areas (millions of hectar)
Pine Spruce Forest area in Sweden Percent
8.5 3.8 21.2 58
Most forest area is approved as seed collection
area! The rule is not very limiting. Some of the
area not approved has for administrative reasons
never been considered. Finland has approved all
their area.
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No scientific support for advantage of selected
seed tree stand or seed collection area

• There are to my knowledge - no experiments
  which clearly demonstrate that a gain is
  associated to collecting seeds from a seed
  collection area of relevance to the Swedish pine
  and spruce situation.
• Many non-genetic factors affect the appearance of
  a stand, so it is difficult to imagine that
  genetic factors should dominate or be visible,
  even if they were rather important.

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Is where a genetic variation among
autotochtoneous stands?

• Yes!!
• There is a large scaled provenance variation,
  trees from a more southern latitude survive worse
  but grow better (if unharmed). This is mainly
  caused by selection which act a long time over a
  large area (trees which utilize more of the
  vegetation period grow better but get more
  injuries, the nature finds a reasonable
  balance). This is utilized in provenance
  transfers. The question now is variation beyond
  this large scaled continuous clinal variation.
• The genetic remainder (not explained by the known
  provenance pattern, where latitude is important)
  may be guessed from many experiments to be in the
  magnitude 6 in value and 1- latitude in
  optimal adaptation.
• It is logic that factors like different selection
  under different conditions and genetic drift and
  different migration patterns give raise to
  limited differences among stands of pine and
  spruce. However this variation of distances 100
  km is unlikely to be extremely large, as it is
  likely to be an important gene migration by
  pollen reducing local variations.
• This benefit in value is probably considerable,
  but how to see it? I suggest area phenotype
  difference will often not be able to give more
  than a few per mille in gain. Perhaps stand
  within area also give some per mille and part of
  that is probably obtained anyway, as I guess
  directly bad looking stands (infected, forking
  etc) are often avoided.
• A considerable gain of the choice of stand is
  only possible after unrealistic tests. Some of
  the benefit in adaptation may perhaps be utilized
  using short term tests, actually sometimes annual
  harvests of seed orchards are tested for
  adaptation (freezing test). A test for adaptation
  may change the area of use, and may therefore be
  done on already collected seeds. Or the less
  hardy seeds could be used for seeding in the
  intended area but the hardiness is compensated by
  more seeds.

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• The rule that the source (where the seeds were
  collected) must be given will be there and is
  guaranteed by the state. This is the most
  relevant information, and that is enough for
  customers to make their own informed decisions.

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Planting and seedingProvenance transfer

• An increasing amount of forest is planted or
  seeded. Cones are typically collected from old
  felled stands. Felled stands in northern Sweden
  are almost always autochthonous. Even when forest
  culture started it was often rather small
  transfers.

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Quantitative importance

• If we move a provenance one or two latitudes?
• In the new place probably 15 of the plants will
  be self-generation
• 50 of pollen will anyway be contamination
• Selection will make it more similar to the local
  provenance
• The difference among stands is anyway -0.5
  latitude or so
• Planted stands are probably better seed sources
  (adapted to plantation, less inbreeding), so it
  may be disadvantage with stand
• If the stand is an origin which differs 2
  latitudes from the local, it may behave as if it
  was one latitude different. It makes difference
  in both growth and survival, but partly
  compensatory from a production point of view, so
  the loss is of the magnitude a few percent of
  production, which is not a big problem.
• The chance is rather small and the trouble
  limited so I suggest accepting it.

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Planting and seeding- imports to southern Sweden

• In southern Sweden, cultivation has been going on
  for several centuries. The results from pine
  plantations were so bad so import was forbidden
  on crown land around 1883. Measured as kilogram,
  we has imported as much for more than a century,
  but one kg gives more forest now. Still even in
  south Sweden rather much autochthonous forests
  still exists, but we can hardly identify them and
  we do not know how much. Anyway the area is
  declining.
• Some foreign provenances seemed to give a good
  progeny (hybrids).
• Even where seed collection areas has been
  identified (Emmaboda), their genetic character
  change over time.

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Southern Sweden

• For pine it is probably clear cuttings used local
  sources, the Tysktall episode is too long time
  ago to matter and affected a small area, and led
  to more local materials.
• Anyway seed orchards are now dominating so it
  will be neglible seed collections.
• For spruce where is little demand on domestic
  origins (a few hundred thousand plants at
  Skogsplantor). Imports will dominate.
• So South Sweden may be too small problem to
  really matter.

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Theoretically seeds could be obtained from
planted stands with the best provenances

• As seeds are used for plantations, seeds
  collected from plantations are expected to be
  better adapted to plantation.
• A local plantation get generally better locally
  adapted seeds than direct imports.
• There are cutting plantations, but the selection
  was to weak to make most of them genetically
  superior
• The provenances (e.g. Belarus) are not constant
  and probably becomes less reliable over time
• Planted stands with the best provenances are
  too young to be felled and too seldom well
  documented.

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• The small benefit from avoiding the worst looking
  stands and areas where imports are especially
  suspected from historical records may probably be
  done anyway without rules.

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• Finland seem in principle to have made all
  Finland a seed collection area.
• To joke a bit about Finland. The seed collection
  areas do not extend beyond altitude 1310 meters,
  that puzzled me a bit as I thought Finland was
  flat, but actually there is that high peak on the
  border to Norway, where I guess the tree limit
  drops below sea level.

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Regions of provenance for Sweden
Heat sum (Finland)
Region of provenance (pine) for Finland
I would still like to share more fine-scaled in
regions of provenance (which can not be mixed),
but LA seems to think it can be still simpler.
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Areas to avoid seed collection

• Coastal areas are exposed to Mans activities
  since much longer time than inland. Since Man got
  sailing technology year 600 I believe wood
  transports from wood felled in coastal areas were
  common even in far north. Coastal areas have a
  later phenology and therefore a more sporadic and
  unpredictable gene migration. Mans operation can
  be expected to be more small scaled and locally
  diversified at the coast. Therefore I suggest to
  avoid seed collection close to coast, it may be
  operational with an elevation 50 border.
• This is the only guess I can make, and it has
  little influence as little seed anyway is
  harvested in coastal areas.
• Evidently there are places unsuitable for seed
  collection like botanical gardens and trials.

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There seem to be little reason to vigorously
defend seed collection areas. But could we not
still keep them?

• But still they may give a little gain and are
  established by intelligent people and built on
  old wisdom, should all this work and energy be
  counted for nothing just as it is my guess?
• It has a definite PR value and makes the people
  to feel more confident that they trust the strict
  rules enforced.
• The areas will not be needed in some decades and
  freedom could be misused.
• It creates some further considerations to remove
  the idea of seed collection area (reduced region
  of provenance needed?) some other limitations
  (e.g. only forest land)

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• I would prefer a system so it was easy to extend
  the allowed area, thus it is actually enough to
  document what has been done to get it approved
  retrospectively.
• An advantage with such system
• It forces documentation and thought why
• Its a motive for the forest authority to
  preserve some production oriented genetic
  competence
• It is not irreciprocal removal
• It would be few cases each year (demand low) so
  not a big effort needed.
• EU and OECD believes that they make rule to help
  us, all our effort should not go to discretely
  nullify rules and intentions.

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Total freedom

• No paperwork at the forest authority
• Easier for the seed collectors
• The trend now is to remove governmental
  restrictions from the industry.
• Similar to the intelligent neighbors in the east
  (Finland).
• Even if freedom should we still have regions
  on provenance and how should they look? Like in
  Finland or in current Sweden?

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After this short introduction.

• The possibilities to get good seeds by choosing
  good stands seem neglectable
• But most of the genetic variation seems to be
  among trees within stands, not among stands or
  areas (within the same region).
• Could we not select the best trees for cone
  harvest? Perhaps! But difficult!

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Magnitude of gain small by selecting the best
trees

• Phenotypic selection gain of plus trees gave a
  gain of magnitude 6. That was intensive (say 1
  in 100) and careful (measurement of comparison
  trees), carefully done by experienced staff.
• This to select cone harvest trees can only be
  done with low intensity (say 1 in 2) and fast and
  sloppy. So the gain will only be in the magnitude
  1-2.

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W 4009, the reproductively most successful tree
in Sweden
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Thinning

• To remove inferior trees improves the pollen
  crop. Forests are thinned and sometimes the idea
  is to leave the best trees there the value growth
  is most important. Thus it is good if suitable
  stands which are thinned with the aim of
  improving the quality of the stand are registered
  at thinning, and considered as seed collection
  areas.
• Note that thinning away dying supressed inferior
  trees probably has small effect on the
  reproductive output. Thinning away the worst half
  of trees is not a selection 12 for genetic
  quality at seed collection.
• The gain is anyway low!

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Selection of seed parents

• In the far north pine seeds are sometimes
  collected from standing trees (in rather young
  stands). Could the people doing this be
  instructed in some way?
• If the cone collection was very integrated with
  harvest, the harvester could mark good trees
  (e.g. by leaving tops sticking up) and the cone
  collector follow immediately after (so the
  harvester do not make the adjacent felling before
  cones collected). This type of coordination is
  demanding.
• The best trees could be identified and felled
  manually and harvested for cones. When the
  harvester can come later.
• The best trees could be identified and when
  harvested by cutting the tops down by helicopter
  before the final harvest of the stand. As
  helicopters nowadays are used for cutting tops in
  seed orchards, equipment and contacts with
  entrepreneours ought to be possible

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Tops are cut down in a seed orchard with a
helicopter and cones collected from ground. Could
be done in stands also.
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Seed tree stands of Scots pine

• They are drastically thinned. That improves seed
  production considerable.
• I believe cone collection cheaper but Jörgen
  Andersson doubted that.
• They could be identified and treated as potential
  seed collection stands already when the seed tree
  stand was created.
• Selection of seed trees on assumed genetic
  superiority
• Fertilized for further increase in seed yeild
• Harvest coordinated with cone harvest