The role of biodiversity in forest plant breeding: A case study on the development of new Acacia hybrid varieties (Acacia mangium x Acacia auriculiformis)

Abstract

Sunarti S. 2018. Review: The role of biodiversity in forest plant breeding: A case study on the development of new Acacia hybrid varieties (Acacia mangium x Acacia auriculiformis). Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 4: 28-34. Tropical forest biodiversity in Indonesia has the third largest area in the world after Brazil and Congo with 300,000 species of plants and 55% of them are endemic. One species of plant which have a high economic value is Acacia mangium and Acacia auriculiformis. Center for Forest Biotechnology and Tree Improvement Research and Development (BBPPBPTH) since 1993 has developed both those species of Acacia comprehensively. In order to improve biodiversity, productivity and quality of wood and resistance to pests/diseases, new Acacia varieties were created through natural and artificial hybridization. A natural hybridization was done by establishing a hybridizing seed orchard and artificially carried out by controlled pollination in the breeding garden. From the hybridization has produced two hundreds of new varieties of Acacia hybrid with varied morphological characteristics and have been tested in several sites in Sumatra and Central Java with different site condition. Some of them are superior hybrid with straight and rounded trunk with lighter branching and 17% improvement in productivity compared to their parents. In addition, the properties of wood in the form of specific gravity, wood consumption, cellulose content is also better than the parents, that is respectively 402.1 kg/m3; 3.52 m3/Ton and 59.9%. Hybrid morphological markers have been applied with an accuracy of 97% compared to SCAR molecular markers. The creating of new varieties of Acacia hybrids continued to be done using the co-improvement method using selected parent trees from better generations.