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Publication #Circular 1440

 

New Plants for Florida: Pine1

Tim White2

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As the University of Florida celebrates its 150-year anniversary, the Cooperative Forest Genetics Research Program (CFGRP) begins its third generation of genetic improvement and gene conservation of southern pine. The CFGRP, founded in 1953 by geneticists Tom Perry and Ray Goddard, is a cooperative organization composed of FAES scientists working together with private industries and state agencies to develop genetically improved varieties of slash pine (Pinus elliottii), loblolly pine (P. taeda), longleaf pine (P. palustris) and sand pine (P. clausa). Through faster growth and greater disease resistance, plantations of improved southern pine yield up to 45 percent more usable wood per acre at harvest than the unimproved plantations.

By the 1930s, much of the natural forest in Florida had been depleted and many of the remaining trees were poor in quality and diseased. As Florida's population increased, the demand for wood and wood products grew rapidly. Concern about the depleted forests prompted the need for a reforestation program.

In the early 1950s, the CFGRP began the first generation of tree improvement by inspecting natural pine forests in the southeast and selecting over 4,000 southern pine trees that were superior in their size, form and health. These selected trees were brought to common locations (called "seed orchards") dispersed throughout the southeast where the selected trees mated at random to produce genetically superior and more genetically diverse seed than what is produced in natural forests. Seed collected in the orchards was planted into forest tree nurseries, producing improved seedlings, which, in turn, were then planted on harvested forestlands to produce faster-growing and healthier forest plantations.

The best first-generation selections were used in controlled cross-matings to produce even better pine families. These improved pine families were then planted into field tests to assess their growth, straightness and health. The second generation of tree improvement began in 1985 when geneticist Tim White became CRCRP Director. The cooperative selected the best trees from the best families in the field tests. More than 1,000 genetically improved slash pines were selected in the second generation, and the breeding and testing phases of this generation were completed in 2002. Third generations are being made in 2002 and 2003 with breeding and testing planned for 2004-2010.

Each year, over 1.3 billion improved southern pine seedlings are planted on over 1.6 million acres in the southeastern United States. Ninety percent of all commercial tree plantings in the southeastern United States employ genetically improved seedlings. First-generation slash pine plantations are expected to produce 14 percent more wood and have 18 percent less disease than unimproved plantations. Second-generation slash pine plantations are expected to produce 35 percent more wood and have 60 percent less disease, which will result in 45 percent more harvestable wood.

For more information about pine varieties, see the following EDIS publications:

FOR 21 Common Pines of Florida

ENH 637 Pinus taeda: Loblolly Pine

ENH 622 Pinus elliotii: Slash Pine

ENH 628 Pinus palustris: Longleaf Pine

ENH 617 Pinus clausa: Sand Pine

Footnotes

1.

This document is part of Circular 1440, a publication of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the Agronomy Department and IFAS Communication Services, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication date August 2003. Reviewed February 2009. Originally published as a booklet by IFAS Communication Services June 2003. Visit the EDIS Web Site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Tim White, Professor, School of Forest Resources and Conservation. Circular 1440 is edited by Richard L. Jones, Mary L. Duryea, and Berry J. Treat, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Richard L. Jones, Dean for Research, publishes this information to further programs and related activities, available to all persons regardless of race, color, age, sex, disability or national origin. Information about alternate formats is available from IFAS Communication Services, University of Florida, PO Box 110810, Gainesville, FL 32611-0810.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.