Growing a smarter timber industry
The results of 15 years of world leading forestry research by scientists from Queensland's Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI) are now transforming 130,000 hectares of softwood pine plantations in the state's south east.
Forestry researchers have been working on clonal technologies to create the perfect tree - a tree with higher growth rates, straighter trunks and fewer knots that yields more usable timber from each log, compared with those from older plantations.
Their work has enabled them to create identical trees from parent stock that has those most desirable characteristics derived from cross breeding two species - Slash pine and Caribbean pine.
DPI now is able to provide three million plants a year for the conversion of all 130,000 hectares of softwood plantations in the south east as the forests progressively mature, are harvested and replaced.
The cloned plantations can be harvested years earlier than the 30-year rotation that has been the standard in the past because they grow faster and are suitable for harvest at a younger age.
The "new" trees also have a greater tolerance of wet sites and withstand high winds better than their predecessors.
The department's scientists now are working to adapt these selection techniques to Queensland's hardwood trees.
Queensland's timber industry generates annual revenues of $1.7 billion and DPI Forestry officials believe their new technology opens up export opportunities for both the trees themselves and their tissue culture technology.
DPI Forestry plantations supply more than 80 per cent of the timber industry's annual requirements.
Recently DPI Forestry and Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences (AFFS) Research, in conjunction with Forest Research New Zealand, have been working together to store and breed superior cloned trees using the latest biotechnological methods.
Dr Stephen Trueman, the program's senior scientist, said advances in tissue culture meant that one single plant cutting could create 10,000 new plants within a year.
"This opens up amazing opportunities for producing specialist timber ideal for specific uses such as building construction and furniture making," Dr Trueman said.
Information: www.dpi.qld.gov.au/forestryresearch/
Last reviewed 19 January 2006