Increased forest production through forest tree breeding

Forest tree breeding started in the middle of the twentieth century and since then the use of improved forest regeneration material has become an essential part of forestry in many countries. This review describes methods and achievements of tree breeding programmes, which aim at increasing the quantities and improving qualities of wood-based raw materials through selection, field testing and controlled crossings. Most improved materials currently deployed are seed crops from first-generation phenotypic or tested seed orchards, which offer 10–25% gains in yield depending on the selection intensity of parent trees. Methods of vegetative propagation are developed intensively so that it could be applied to a larger range of species, because it offers high genetic gain and uniformity of the material. Genomic tools are also developed to enhance the efficacy of selection. Applications of genetic engineering are currently limited to research purposes. Forest tree breeding will be an integral part of bioeconomy in securing the production of good quality raw materials in large quantities and will have a significant economic impact on the profitability of forestry in the long term.