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Genetic tools for forest tree improvement strategies

INRA coordinates European NovelTree research project

The European NovelTree collaborative project, coordinated by INRA-Orléans, was launched on 25 June 2008 in the presence of Pierre Stengel, INRA Scientific Director for Environment, Cultivated and Natural Ecosystems. NovelTree brings together 14 European laboratories to develop new tools for enhancing forest tree characteristics that can satisfy changing demands for products and ensure the sustainability of forest ecosystems under climate change.

Growing demand for high-quality wood

The forestry sector must meet ever-increasing demands for products in a rapidly changing world. There are more uses for forestry products as fossil resources become scarce, while society is anxious to see forests managed sustainably against the backdrop of climate change.

More efficient genetic improvement strategies are needed to improve the quality and production of forest biomass that can meet these challenges. Current breeding programmes must consider the demand for higher added value of forestry products, and ensure trees can adapt to conditions arising from climate change, including disease, pests and drought.

In this context, NovelTree will help describe the genes involved in these major adaptive functions in Scots pine, maritime pine, spruce and poplar, and study variations within natural populations.

NovelTree will also incorporate genomic technologies to develop high throughput genotyping tools that will allow efficient selection of trees for their resilience, adaptation to environmental changes, and wood quality. Modelling tools will aid scientists in establishing selection strategies that combine genetic progress with rational management of genetic diversity in forest species over several generations. By integrating the data derived from the project, NovelTree will develop new support decision tools for the optimal deployment of improved genetic stocks, combining sustainable management of forest ecosystems with greater economic value for their products.

Researchers will share these new tools with breeders, forest owners, scientists and consumers through symposia and articles in scientific and technical journals.
The NovelTree project involves fourteen research agencies and has funding of €6.3 million euros, €4.1 million of which were provided by the European Union for a 4-year period as part of FP-7.

NovelTree was launched in the presence of Bernard Commère, representing the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Patricia Bossard from the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Yves Lesgourges, Director of the Aquitaine Regional Centre for Forestry.

For more information:

http://www.noveltree.eu/

Written by : INRA press service, phone: +33 (0)1 42 75 91 69

Contacts :
Catherine Bastien,
NovelTree Coordinator - Centre INRA d'Orléans
UR588 Forest Tree Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit
INRA
2163 avenue de la Pomme de Pin - Ardon
CS 40001
45075 ORLEANS CEDEX 2 - France
Tel: +33 (0)2 38 41 78 29/ 78 24
E-mail: Catherine.Bastien@orleans.inra.fr