Clonal Alder Research WSU
WHC meeting
June 2012
Current Standing of the Alder Clonal Work
• As of May 2011, the Alder clonal research carried out at
Weyerhaeuser Northwest Hardwoods was transferred under
agreement with WSU, with certain provisions, so the program could
continue and develop new clones.
• As the program had been partly based at WSU there was very little
disruption to the program
• WSU is currently looking at ways to commercialize the clonal alder
program and its broader use as a feedstock supply for biomass for
energy production
• WSU will also continue to develop new clones for both forestry and
agricultural land but will also place some emphasis on the
development of alder clones and associated frankia strains that can
be used to produce short rotation energy crops on marginal lands.
• The alder program is running concurrently with the hybrid poplar
program formerly run by Jon Johnson.
Current Standing December 2011 Alder
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Original emphasis on “good” alder production sites – changed in 2007 to
poorer coastal sites and to include agricultural site selections
Emphasis on coastal zone at Start of 2008 accelerated program to selections
for Coastal and Agricultural sites at the end of 2009 (inland and coastal
selections again)
Frankia testing; first field trial 07 on selected coastal zone selections
continuing to collect and bulk
Total program
– 382 clones captured (141 coastal) (just under 650 collected)
– 253 in field trials 2010
– 31 production clones identified – cold and disease tested 25% plus on
growth
– Over 35 000 plants out in various trials (clonal, size, age, frankia etc)
Wood properties work ongoing
PCR work completed for production clone protection
We have new clonal selections in 2011 from the Vancouver island provenance
selections and axilliary cuttings are currently being grown in the greenhouse –
these are the first all WSU clones
Current WSU Alder Work
•
We have collected 50 new selections of the best alder families from the Provenance
trials planted at Longview
•
Axils were forced to break on the branch stems and these were elongated and rooted.
These will become the parent plants for producing trial material. Frankia have been
collected from the roots of the best 20 of these clonal selections.
Frankia Collections
•
We currently have 40 Frankia collections of which 35 are growing in pure culture in
acid washed sand planted with 3 to 5 different alder clones. The Frankia which
shows the best growth and the most aggressive root colonization is selected for
inoculum for new plants.
•
We currently have a new selection of 20 Frankia lines from the latest clonal
selection and we are working on getting these into culture
Alder Breeding
•
One of the agreements we have with
Weyerhaeuser is to initiate new
superior populations of Alder from
which new clones can be selected.
We created relatedness maps from
RFLP “fingerprints” of our best clones
and chose the best growers that were
not related directly to each other and
created a crossing matrix to produce
seeds to make a new selection
population. We have just completed
all of our crosses and these will be
planted out in 2013
Alder Production Population
Clone
dbh gain
W clone 1
1.42
W clone 2
1.34
W clone 3
1.33
W clone 4
1.33
W clone 5
1.30
W clone 6
1.29
W clone 7
1.25
W clone 8
1.24
W clone 9
1.23
W clone 10
1.23
W clone 11
1.21
W clone 12
1.19
W clone 13
1.16
W clone 14
1.16
W clone 15
1.16
W clone 16
1.13
W clone 17
1.13
W clone 18
1.12
W clone 19
1.05
W clone 20
1.04
ht gain
1.48
1.16
1.41
1.18
1.2
1.19
1.14
1.39
1.14
1.14
0.98
1.16
1
1.36
1.17
1.21
1.26
1.2
1.23
1.33
top 10 clones
dbh gain
ht gain
1.296
1.243
top 20 clones
dbh gain
ht gain
1.2155
1.2165
• The growth analysis was kindly
carried out by A. Dobkowski of
Weyerhaeuser and approved by
D. Marshall.
• These clones are being compared
to the average seedling on DF 130
and 140 sites
• The best clones on agricultural
sites are outperforming these
growth rates
• The best clone on WSU farm 5
has grown at 1 inch per year
diameter for the last 9 years
These Clones are Selected for:
Ring by Ring Specific Gravity Profile for Tree No. 35
Specific Gravity
(O. D. wt./green vol.)
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
Bottom height
0.25
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Ring number from pith (side 'A' on the left)
All of the above clones have
been tested for cold and
drought tolerance, disease
resistance and uniformity of
wood properties and lumber
characteristics. We have
permission to continue
working with Weyco to test
wood quality and will continue
to do field trials on WSU
property and anyone in WHC
that wants to volunteer and
sign a confidentiality
agreement
Alder Production for Commercial Use
•
Part of the agreement with Weyerhaeuser was to start to look at
commercialization of the best clones whilst maintaining the program and selecting
new clones. We are currently starting production on the best clones.
Alder Cuttings for Production
Picture of alder cuttings to be made available next
year through the WHC. These cuttings were placed
in mid April, some for parent plants for future
production, some for clonal trials and around 6000
for sale in 2013
Current standing December 2011 Poplar
• Goss Farm currently has the 50 original Northwest P. trichocarpa. These will be
maintained and cuttings taken to establish a new holding area.
• A small stand of the Vancouver Island poplars planted in 2006. Maintain and
measure.
•A,B, C and E clonal trials planted in 2001, 4, 5 and 6. These will be maintained
and new selections made.
• Stool bed with approx. 100 triploid clones and some family 335 planted in
2005. Material from this bed will be cloned and moved to a more productive site
and material will be readied for commercialization . Some of this material will
be used for breeding.
• The remnants of some Rust resistant P. trichocarpa that were planted in 1999.
We will be able to rehabilitate some of these plants.
•We are starting to force the more mature trees to form basal shoots so that we
can clone them and then plan to fell the original trees so we can easily start
using them in future breeding.
• We are setting up new stool beds of clones of commercial interest in 2012 and
these should be ready for first production in 2013 and full production in 2014.
Time to Commercialization
• Time to commercialization of both the alder and the poplar is dependent on the
final numbers needed. We currently have material to produce around 50K
selected alder clones and around 15K good commercial poplar clones.
• With the new clones coming online we will put most of the alder production back
into parent plant production and then push for major production in 2013/14
providing the production facilities are in place
• The new stool beds of the promising Jon Johnson clones and B and C series clonal
selections will be grown over the winter months and placed out into new stool
beds in the spring. These will be ready for minor production in 2013 or early 2014
• We are looking at earlier selection criteria methods such as genetic markers and
phenomics and also at increasing production through different planting paths
(size, frankia inoculation, tissue culture hedges etc) for agricultural site plants
versus forestry site plants. We will attempt to use these to get plants into
production faster.
WSU Marketing/Commercialization
Efforts for Red Alder
Background:
 Red alder is the most common hardwood in the PNW and highly sought
after for commercial wood-making.
 A red alder forest is home to a diverse community of wildlife. Deer, elk,
horses, cattle, and sheep all eat the leaves, twigs, and buds of the tree.
 The trees are important in N-fixing with leaf litter contributing to future
forest growth.
 The trees can be used as riparian buffers to reduce stream bank erosion,
reduce erosion of steep slopes, enhance aquatic environments, and protect
water quality.
 Red alder wood is high-quality hardwood that has a fine, even texture and
a cherry-like grain.
 Products made from red alder include wooden dishes, paneling, furniture,
brush handles, plywood, veneers, pulp, firewood, and even fiber-based
products such as tissue and writing paper.
Target Market
 Unfortunately, we can’t affect demand for products made with red alder.
 However, we can try to make those who grow red alder aware that
Washington State University (WSU) is in the process of developing high
quality red alder clones from Weyerhaeuser clonal material which:
 grow faster,
 survive better,
 produce higher quality wood, and
 can be grown on marginal land.
 We can also try to make those who provide trees for non-manufacturing
purposes aware that our trees have high growth and survival rates, and can
be planted on marginal land.
 By early 2013, WSU will have approx. 6,000 viable red alder seedlings for
sale, and a significant base of parental stock for future seedling production.
There will also be material available for testing.
Target Market (cont’d)
 Since most hardwood nurseries produce seedlings from seed, and
oftentimes under advance contracts, and given that WSU uses asexual
propagation to produce the higher quality red alder plants, we don’t think
hardwood nurseries will be interested in producing seedlings for sale on their
own under WSU license, at least not initially.
 Asexual propagation is also more complicated and more expensive, and
takes some practice to perfect.
 So how can we create demand for WSU’s new, high quality seedlings? We
think we can do so by targeting the growers of red alder, those who produce
for the makers of the final products, and for other uses. We think we can
demonstrate the value of higher quality plant material to these people.
 At some point, we hope to interest the nursery community to take on the
asexual production of new WSU clones under license, as discussed below.
Making WSU Seedlings Available to
Growers/Others
 As we said earlier, in early 2013, we will have approx. 6,000 viable red alder
seedlings available for sale, as well as a significant base (30+ clones) of
parental stock for future seedling production, and seedlings available for
testing. We encourage offers to purchase the initial 6,000 seedlings, interest
in licensing parental stock for propagation and seedling sales, and interest in
testing our clonal material.
 In an attempt to jumpstart demand for the new seedlings, here are some
options we are considering:
 We may produce seedlings at the WSU Puyallup Research and
Extension Center and sell them directly to interested land owners and forest
managers.
 We may get seedlings produced under contract and sell them
ourselves, or license the contractor to sell them, in which case we would
share proceeds gained from the sale of the seedlings with the contractor.
Seedling Availability (cont’d)
 As a variation to option #2, we would like to work specifically with
hardwood nursery contractors who are interested in eventually licensing the
WSU clones, teach them our asexual propagation techniques, contract with
them initially to produce seedlings, with the ultimate goal of having them,
under license with WSU, propagate their own plants, sell them, and pay us a
small percentage of sales or a per-tree royalty.
 As another option, perhaps with the assistance of the WA Hardwoods
Commission, we could try to set up a grower cooperative effort to facilitate
the taking of orders for WSU red alder materials and getting such orders
filled.
Where Do We Go from Here?
 Part of our marketing plan involved being here today to tell you about—and
hopefully interest you in—our new, high quality red alder clone/seedling
development program.
 We hope to hear from you with your comments and suggestions. If you
have some ideas on how to proceed, we want to hear them.
 If you’re interested in working with us to sell our 6,000 seedlings or do
contract seedling production and/or sales, call us.
 We plan to advertise our efforts in the near future through some form of
print media and/or WSU publications.
Contact Information
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions on how to make this red
alder venture a success and/or want to be a part of it, please contact:
Barri Herman, PhD
WSU Hardwoods Breeder
2606 W. Pioneer
Puyallup, WA 98371-4998
tel: 253-445-4594 (wk)
tel: 425-516-2038 (mobile)
e-mail: barri.herman@wsu.edu
or
Tom Kelly
Technology Manager
WSURF
1610 NE Eastgate Blvd., Suite 650
Pullman, WA 99163
tel: 509-335-1210
kellytj@wsu.edu