The Breeding of Douglas Fir in Britain

Steve Lee

Forest Research

Partner 11

With input from:

Sam Samuel and Alan Fletcher

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany2

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

• Discovered in 1792 by Archibald Menzies• Big Lat/Long/Altitude spread.• Introduced into Britain in1827• Early collections thought to be from Washington/Oregon border and western foothills of the Cascade range?• Commercial introductions started 1870 (North Oregon; Puget Sound)• In 1920s around 6,500 Kg were imported into GB - 60% from coastal BC; 40% from Washington Coast• Gradually, BC imports gave way to Washington

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany3

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

Provenance tests planted 1928 through to 1970

• Early test dwelt on interior BC but some coastal BC• Southern inland areas were quickly dismissed due to problems with Needle Cast fungus Rhadocline pseudotsugae• 1953/4 origin trials centred on Washington and Oregon - 6 sites across GB• 1966 and 1970 range wide IUFRO trials - 7 sites across GB• 50 well documented selection sites from PNW were tested in GB

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany4

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

DF Breeding has been stop/ start in GB (1)

• Plus trees (approx. 200) were selected in the 1950s• Progeny tests (approx. 30) were established up to early 1970s • In mid-1970s DF breeding was stopped. • It was decided not enough DF was being planted in GB to justify a costly breeding programme

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany5

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

DF Breeding has been stop/ start in

GB (2)

• Early progeny tests NOT a success. • Many of the early selections were found to be closely related with clear signs of inbreeding depression in the progeny. •We realised trees had been selected from early David Douglas introductions which must have been raised from just a few cones.• Interest was renewed in the early 1990s under EU incentives.• EU contract lead to new experiments of open-pollinated families from over 300 parent trees selected in Washington and Oregon. • 10-year data from these trials have NOT lead to the identification of many outstanding parent trees

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany6

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

• Map shows location of DF origin trials in GB• In addition there have been trials to compare EU sources of DF (EUDirec). • French ‘early flushing’ found to do well on mild sites which could be important as the climate warms.

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany7

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

• We have climatic matching data for each site enabling GIS modelling and predictions of which origin is the best for DF sites in GB.• This will be expanded upon at the meeting by Georgios Xenakis• The technique could be expended to rest of EU?

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany8

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

So where are we now ?We are able to recommend the best seed origins for use in Britain.

WACO - best is for most sites Elma, Humptulips + Matlock (030), Twin Habors, Hoquim (041)• SWCA - consider on warmer, drier sites - Packwood (430), Randle + Snoqualmie Falls (422), Enumclaw (412) • NWCA less optimal - Darrington (403) Arlington and Granite Falls (202)• BCCO has good form but sub-optimal growth rate

WACO = Washington Coast; SWCA = S. Wash. Cascades NWCA = N. Wash. Cascades;

NOCO = N. Oregon Coast BCCO = Brit. Col. Coast

TreeBreedEx - March 2009 - Germany9

Breeding Douglas Fir in Great Britain

www.forestresearch.gov.uk

What do we intend to do next?

• We do NOT have a breeding programme

• No further breeding or selection is planned

• We have just one untested clonal seed orchard (1 hectare in size) which has been harvested only once• We intend to purchase improved stock of the appropriate origin from organisations in the Pacific North West or partners elsewhere in Europe.