BioMatNet Item: AIR3-CT93-1675 - Cypress, a Flexible Mediterranean Species for the Protection of Intensive Farming and for the Production of High Quality Wood in Marginal Forest Sites Subject to Fire Risk

AIR3-CT93-1675
Cypress, a Flexible Mediterranean Species for the Protection of Intensive Farming and for the Production of High Quality Wood in Marginal Forest Sites Subject to Fire Risk

Contacts

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AIR Cluster IX - Forestry : Forestry : Plant Genetics : Wood (Lignocellulose)

	Contract No	AIR3-CT92-1675
	Total Cost	920 000
	EC Contribution	920 000
	Start Date	01/11/1993
	Duration	48 months

OBJECTIVE:

Cypress is a multiple use Mediterranean tree. Provided its crown is well developed, it constitutes the most efficient windbreaks and reduces fire risk in closed stands. Its adaptation to many of the Mediterranean soil types and to long summer drought make it an excellent complement to other more site specific trees. The selection and diffusion of new clones for windbreaks and of new varieties for forest sites are based on research on 8 topics:

Drought resistance mechanisms will be studied in existing field trials and in controlled conditions: drought tolerance or avoidance, photosynthetic response to drought, hydraulic properties of stressed plants.
Bark canker resistance: stability of clone resistance in different environment (pathotypes and strains), early tests, resistance mechanisms.
Crown architecture: mechanisms of branch and crown development, stability of form in different environment.
Genetic diversity and genetic improvement: field tests and genetic markers genetic control of important traits, management of the breeding population breeding strategy, seed orchard.
Vegetative propagation: softwood cuttings, in vitro micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis.
Seed and cone insects: impact of insect population on regeneration, biochemical and physical trapping, host and pest genetic variation.
Growth and yield: establishment of permanent plots.
Wood quality for standard and high value purposes: wood technology and transformation process: micro peeling and veneering.

Participants are respectively ecophysiologists, pathologists, morphologists

geneticists, molecular biologists, physiologists, entomologists, silviculturists and technologists of 5 European countries.

This project is partly a continuation of an EEC DG Vl project but it has a broader spectrum, it considers the entire chain from planting to utilization, it applies advanced research methods.

Contacts

Coordinator

Eric TESSIER DU CROS / INRA Mediterranean Forest Research Unit / FRANCE

Participant