Forest Research Institute

About: Forest Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Dehra Dūn, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Forest management. The organization has 5320 authors who have published 7625 publications receiving 185876 citations.

Phenotypic changes in progenies of northern clones of Picea abies (L) Karst. grown in a southern seed orchard

Abstract: Results are presented from artificial freezing tests comparing young controlled crossed progenies from the southern seed orchard at Lyngdal (58° N) with open‐pollinated progenies from the same mother trees standing in the northern natural forest (63°‐66°N). The seed orchard material was more damaged by frost during cold acclimation. This effect was persistent for more than one growing season. Different photoperiodic treatments imposed on the progenies the first year did not affect the hardiness level in the same material three years later. The results imply that the seed orchard material has been genetically altered to perform like more southern ecotypes than the progenies form the forest. Possible causes of the present results are discussed in relation to four alternative hypotheses. In two of these it is postulated that the parental environment in the seed orchard could alter the genotypic performance of the progenies.

Conifer genetic engineering: transgenic Pinus radiata (D. Don) and Picea abies (Karst) plants are resistant to the herbicide Buster

Abstract: A biolistic transformation procedure was applied to co-transform embryogenic tissue of Pinus radiata and Picea abies with two plasmid DNAs. The first vector contained the bar gene, specifying resistance to the herbicide glufosinate, under the control of the maize ubiquitin promoter. This plasmid also contained the Pinus radiata germin cDNA sequence, in either sense or antisense orientation, driven by the ubiquitin promoter. The second vector contained both the nptII gene under control of the CaMV 35S promoter for selection of transgenic tissue on geneticin and the uidA reporter gene under control of the double CaMV 35 promoter. Polymerase chain reaction analysis of selected geneticin-resistant tissue showed that the transformation rates for the co-bombarded plasmid were high in both Pinus radiata (75%) and Picea abies (86%). A combination of phenotypic analysis and Northern hybridisation demonstrated that a number of the transgenic lines expressed all four transgenes. Regenerated plantlets from Pinus radiata and Picea abies transgenic lines were spray-tested with commercial rates of Buster (glufosinate at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 kg active ingredient per hectare). Transgenic plants survived and continued to grow with minor or no damage to their needles, whereas non-transgenic plants regenerated from the same cell lines died within 8 weeks of spraying. To our knowledge, this is the first report on genetically engineered herbicide resistance in conifers, and the results demonstrate that this trait is a feasible option for plantation forestry.

Moss production in a black spruce Picea mariana forest with permafrost near Fairbanks, Alaska, as compared with two permafrost-free stands

Abstract: investigated Overall annual moss production at the intensive black spruce site was about 120 g m-1 yr-1 or about twice as high as the corresponding annual spruce production Maximum rates of net photosynthesis varied from 27 mg CO2 g-1 h-' in Polytrichum commune Hedw to 06 mg CO2 g-1 h-1 in Sphagnum nemoreum Scop The photosynthesis of overwintered leaves early in the season was low and as a result of new growth a steady increase in net photosynthesis occurred throughout the season Leaf water content was found to be the most important limiting factor for growth under natural conditions There was a strong increase in growth and photosynthesis of Sphagnum nemoreum