Development of an efficient machine planting system for progeny testing Ongoing progeny testing of black walnut, black cherry, northern red oak,

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1 HTIRC Tree Improvement Accomplishments over the last five-years by, Jim McKenna M.S. Operational Tree Breeder, USDA-FS-NRS-14 Development of an efficient machine planting system for progeny testing Ongoing progeny testing of black walnut, black cherry, northern red oak, butternut, chestnut, and white oak Inexpensive & effective deer fence system Robust butternut canker screening blocks in bottomland fields Establishment of many pure butternut seed orchards for various regions Selections of hybrid butternuts with good butternut characteristics Black cherry limited range provenance tests to determine if NW PA cherry is adapted to Indiana Precocity (early seed production) in white and red oak Completion and testing of the TACF backcross breeding model

2 HTIRC Operational Tree Improvement 5-Year Advisory Update 10/27/15 Breeding lines Walnut Butternut Northern Red Oak Black Cherry Chestnut Progeny Testing All spp. Disease Screening Butternut Chestnut Seed Orchards Walnut Black Cherry Butternut Chestnut White Oak Special Projects Oak Precocity Figured Wood Disease Resistance DNA Detection of Pathogens Breeding with DNA Markers Field Grafting High School Plantings Industrial Seed Orchards Common Garden Plots (CC) Dendrochronology American beech seed orchard

3 Test trees planted by the HTIRC (now we are at nearly 120,000 trees) 80,000 70,000 No. Test Trees Planted 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 Red Oak Butternut Cherry Walnut Years

4 Some HTIRC Seed Orchards

5 New Developments for Improved Black Walnut Seed Sources Progeny tests: 1-8 Yrs 1. Seed Orchard Sources (Continuing) new grafted clones selected & provided to IN-DNR for new seed orchard (Genotyping Subline 1; Legacy Hardwoods) 3. 5 new selections made from 8-yr-old test for 2011 (since then, nearly 200 selections grafted and established in two new clone banks) Phase I Clone Trials: 2-7 yrs. (now 7 to 13 years) Block Tests (ready to measure at 8 years) Figured Progeny Test: 1 st to plant in 2010 (ongoing) Phase II Clone Trials: 20 new selections 1-yr (now 6 and 7 years old)

6 Some of the people that weathered the winter of and have helped HTIRC operational improvement

7 Height (ft)** Comparison of 38-year-old grafted walnuts in the Martell Clone Bank 1 with 45-year-old seedlings Grafts Seedlings Quality (1-5)* Merchantable log length (ft)** Grafts Seedlings Grafts Seedlings Improvement of walnut clones over seedlings Merchantable length 12% Height 8% Quality 5% DBH 2% ns Grafts DBH (in) ns Seedlings

8 Black Cherry Improvement Limited Rang Provenance Tests: 2006 Plantings: 4 Plots now at 4-yrs Plantings: 3 Plots now at 3-yrs Figured. Three year data for 6/7 has been collected and remains to be analyzed. Clonal Testing Own rooted (tissue culture) & Grafted: 2007: 2 plots with 16 grafted clones : 2 plots with 2 own-rooted & grafted clones and seedling comparisons. Progeny Testing: sites with 8-27 families sites with families. (6 more in 2012 and 2014)

9 Search for resistance in walnut to TCD and resiliency to climate change 2014 Common Garden Experiment

10 First year survival of wild black walnut seedlings and mixed select walnut families (HTI* Hardwood Tree Improvement & Regeneration Center) planted into three common garden plots in Wild seedlings collected from states in the center of the range (CTR), north east (NE), north west (NW), south east (SE), and south west (SW). Both plot and provenance are statistically significant. SD = standard deviation, CV= coefficient of variation. Plot HTI* CTR NE NW SE SW Total ARKANSAS INDIANA MICHIGAN Survival by Provenance Avg. 98% - 92% 88% 75% 69% 86% SD 2% - 8% 13% 15% 6% 13% CV 2% - 9% 14% 20% 9% 15% Avg. 99% 97% 100% 97% 97% 79% 95% SD 2% 5% 0% 2% 6% 8% 8% CV 2% 5% 0% 2% 6% 11% 9% Avg. 99% 97% 97% 93% 94% 89% 95% SD 2% 2% 5% 9% 5% 5% 6% CV 2% 2% 5% 9% 6% 5% 6% Grand Avg. 98% 97% 96% 93% 89% 79% 92% SD 2.3% 3.5% 4.3% 7.9% 8.7% 6.5% 8.9% CV 2.3% 3.6% 4.4% 8.5% 9.8% 8.2% 9.7%

11 ANOVA for survival percentage of black walnut provenances planted into common garden plots in AR, IN, and MI. Southern sources survive much less than central and northern sources. The select mix survived most consistently. Source of Variation SS df MS % Var F P-value F crit Plot % Provenance % Plot Provenance % Error % Total % REML analysis of mean canker area by seedling caliper, isolate, and provenance. Only isolate and seedling caliper were significantly different. Variation across the range suggests resistant/susceptible individuals may occur in any family. Source of variation REML Nparm DF DFDen F Ratio Prob > F Sdlg. Caliper G. morbida Strain Provenance

12 BNUT III Butternut screening for canker resistance BNUT IV BNUT I BNUT II

13 Black Cherry Test Plantings 3-yr-old limited range cherry provenance test Rockville, IN site Pike lumber. February yr-old ANF superior cherry mass selection block Martell Forest August 2006.

14 Black Cherry Provenance Test Plantings are now 8 & 9-Years. All have been measured at 8-years of age now limited range cherry provenance test Albion, MI Michigan State. March2015.

15 Northern Red Oak Progeny Testing Testing began in 2007 with 2005 acorns and proceeded for the next 2 years. At this point, we have 83 families established at 9 plantings. (Now we have ~ 15 progeny tests- 89 families and over half have been tested 6 times) # Families # Times Tested

16 Northern Red Oak Progeny Test Plantings 3 rd year of our TPAC NRO Progeny Test Nov, Alternate rows of bur oak to maintain competition & will be row-thinned at year 10. (8-year data from last winter on this, Martell, and SEPAC)

17 Conclusions for Select Walnut Select walnut has significantly improved timber quality. Select seedlings produce a much greater proportion of desirable seedlings Progeny testing is necessary to determine which individual clones should be included in an improved seed orchard

18 Butternut Breeding

19 E 10 butternut & hybrid seed orchards have been established in the last decade LOCATION WI-DNR, WI IA-DNR, IA Walla Wall, WA Mark Twain, MO Hoosier, IN Wayne, OH Monongahela, WV Allegheny, PA IN-DoF, IN HTIRC, IN TYPE Pure Pure Pure Pure Pure Pure Pure Pure Hybrid Mixed hybrid & pure

20 Results: 5-years later, under a natural butternut canker epidemic, many pure butternut fail and some begin to die. Hybrids are less impacted.

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22 Comparison of canker incidence, size, and natural disease incidence 8-months after artificial inoculation Resistance Test 1 - SEPAC, an upland site and Martell Resistance Test 2 - a bottomland site with 7half-sib families from a Whitewater, WI forest. Size of Cankers (mm) Site Yr. Nat % Art % Lgth Width Martell % 86% SEPAC % 41%

23 Bottomland High Ocj Frequency Frequency Hybrid Families - Martell Canker Rating Butternut Families - Martell Canker Rating Frequency Frequency Upland Low Ocj Hybrid SEPAC Canker Rating Butternut (MR)- SEPAC Canker Rating Distribution of resistance utilizing CR among hybrids and butternut families at two different sites. The bottomland site has high Ocj pressure and the disease is epidemic while the upland site has low Ocj pressure

24 Rating of Breeding Block 1 utilizing canker rating system (CR), considering both artificial and natural cankers four years after inoculating Canker Rating (1-5) Breeding Block - 10 th Year - Martell 1 Hybrid Families Butternut Families

25 Rating of Resistance Test 1 SEPAC -utilizing CR system four years after inoculating. Very little natural canker has occurred at this upland site 5 Resistance Test 1 - SEPAC Canker Rating BW Hyb R-Bnut MR-Bnut S-Bnut Genotypes

26 Conclusions for Butternut Breeding Hybrids and pure butternut significantly differ - most butternut families are susceptible hybrids show more variation and have more resistance Growth rate does not affect resistance Artificial stem inoculations do not mimic disease observations; natural infection is a better screening method Short-term screening for Ocj resistance is inadequate; 10+ years may be needed Upland sites have been suppressive while bottomland sites have been very conducive to the disease