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Genetic diversity is essential to the long-term survival of tree species. The information about genetic diversity is required for the conserving of Swietenia macrophylla (L.) Jacq species. The field activity was done by collecting leaf samples at the genetic resource area of Sulawesi BPTH, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Genetic molecular analysis was conducted at Biotechnology and Tree Breeding Laboratory, Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia. Microsatellite markers investigated the genetic diversity for 100 adult trees and 66 seedling mahogany, and the Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) was performed for assessing molecular variance within and between the populations using GenAlEx software and DarWin 6.5. The seedling population had more alleles than the tree population. The number of private alleles was also higher in the seedling population. The most significant variation was found among the individuals (97%). Variation among the population and within individuals were 3% and 0%, respectively. The present study results will be useful to identify the promising genotype and develop conservation strategies for the mahogany species in the genetic resources area, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species producing raw material for pulp and paper that can be grown in the high altitude lands are still limited. One of the potential species for this area is Eucalyptus urophylla. Tree breeding strategy by a progeny test is performed to increase its productivity. The initial selection is implemented at the nursery level by assess the variation of family (mother trees' progeny) (F1). The research aimed to determine the F1 variation by the growth performance of 6 months old F1 seedlings. Samples consisted of progeny from 27 family originated from provenances of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Indicators of growth performance and determination of rankings are assessed from the seedling's diameter, height, and robustness. The results showed that E. urophylla had high growth performance variation. Based on their growth performance, the best seedlings were from the family of A25, A27, A23, A19, A20 and A21. Genetic diversity among F1 categorized moderate, based on heritability of height (H2=0.37), diameter (H2=0.45) and robustness (H2=0.6). Coefficient of genetic variance (CGV) and coefficient of phenotypic variance (CPV) are more than 20%, and 27 mother trees are divided into 4 clusters. The existence of genetic diversity at the seedling level becomes the material for further testing in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gyrinops versteegii is one of Indonesia's most important agarwood producers, with natural distributions in the Lesser Sunda, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua. This endemic Indonesian species from the Tymeleaecaeae family can be developed for tree breeding in the future to support sustainable agarwood cultivation and production. The major problems of Gyrinops versteegii are a rapid decline in the population of agarwood trees in their habitat, uncertainties in species identification required for conservation purposes, a lack of genomic data needed to differentiate the species, and unresolved phylogenetic relationships between Gyrinops and other Aquilaria species. Our research aimed to conduct a phylogenetic tree analysis using long reads sequences generated with MinION Oxford Nanopore Technology. Sequence datasets were de novo assembled with Nanogalaxy and followed by annotation using GeSeq. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to determine the relatedness of six chloroplast genomes of G. versteegii from our study and two publicly available reference chloroplast genomes from Gyrinops walla and Aquilaria sinensis. Eucalyptus grandis is used as an outgroup. All sequences were aligned using MAFFTv7 and Bioedit Sequence Alignment Editor, phylogenetic analysis was performed using the Maximum Likelihood method, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA7 with a bootstrap value of 1000 replicates. Our results showed that all samples of G. versteegii in the clade Thymelaeaceae clustered after the outgroup of E. grandis. Based on phylogenetic/phylogenomic study using a single rbcL or matK gene, or a combination of both matK and rbcL, or chloroplast genome, we make a preliminary conclusion that Gyrinops are paraphyletic to Aquilaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant production and planting of silver birch is gradually increasing in Latvia. It comes with the recognition on the potential to improve the growth and quality of next generation of birch stands while using the improved (selected) material (seeds for plant production mainly from seed orchard). In very fertile sites with fast over-growth of clear-cut with dense vegetation, planting also helps to ensure successful and fast forest regeneration. Planting is a significant investment, thus forest owners are interested to maximize the profit from it. It includes both ensuring the highest possible productivity as well as minimizing the risks, mainly – wind damage probability. Therefore aim of our study is to assess the transferred silver birch provenances for potential use in tree breeding. Trial, established in central part of Latvia (56°N), includes provenances from region north and south of our country: Finland and Poland, respectively, latitudes 51°to 61°N. Initial spacing 2x1.2m, no thinning carried out before the measurement at the age of 37 years. Material from altogether 16 provenances planted in 24 tree block plots in 6 replications. Statistically significant influence of provenance on tree height, yield and height of the mass point were detected. Largest height was reached by birch provenances from Latvia (18.2±0.5m), slightly lower- from Poland (15.8±0.7m) and lowest – from Finland (14.7±1.4m). Differences in yield between provenances from these countries followed the same trend both when the actual survival was considered as well as when 90% survival was assumed. Mass centre was higher for provenances from Latvia, however, the actual wind damage risk might be lower, since faster growth ensured shorter period until the final harvest, set by target diameter [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]