Eucalyptus globulus is the main eucalypt species grown in Australian plantations. The focus on seedling deployment systems, coupled with exploitation of large, open-pollinated base populations for breeding purposes over the last two decades, has required a detailed understanding of the reproductive biology of this species. We review our research on the reproductive biology of E. globulus, with a focus on it's breeding system and advances made in seed production systems. While most improved seed is still obtained from open-pollinated seedling or grafted seed orchards, the development of the one-stop/single-visit pollination procedure has revolutionised the breeding and deployment of this species. The reduced costs of controlled pollination has meant full pedigree-control can now be maintained in large advanced generation breeding populations and E. globulus is one of the few eucalypt species where large-scale production of manually pollinated seed for family forestry is being undertaken.
History
Publication status
Published
Event title
IUFRO Working group 2.08.03 - Eucalypts and diversity: balancing productivity and sustainability
Event Venue
Durban, South Africa
Date of Event (Start Date)
2007-10-22
Date of Event (End Date)
2007-10-26
Rights statement
BM Potts. This is a preprint of an article whose final form has been published in Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science Volume 70, Number 2 copyright (c)2008 NISC Pty Ltd. The Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science is available online at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nisc/sfjfs