Supporting acacia and eucalypt breeding in Vietnam
November 8, 2024
Drs Chris Harwood and Rod Griffin and Ms Jane Harbard, who are research associates with the University of Tasmania, visited Vietnam with the support of the Crawford Fund Tasmania to work with the Institute of Forest Tree Improvement and Biotechnology (IFTIB) of the Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science (VAFS).
“We have a long association with IFTIB, having worked on successive ACIAR projects that addressed forest tree breeding. Plantation forestry is a major industry in Vietnam, benefitting over half a million smallholder forest growers, providing the raw materials for downstream processing industries and earning Vietnam billions of dollars in export revenue,” explained Chris.
Vietnam’s plantations are based primarily on acacias and eucalypts, which are of Australian origin. Knowledge of acacia and eucalypt forest genetics and the implementation of breeding strategies to deliver better forest germplasm for Vietnam’s tree growers has been strengthened through the long-term collaboration between Australian and Vietnamese scientists. Several of IFTIB’s current science leaders previously studied for their PhD degrees with Chris, Rod and Jane.
Chris leading a training course in data handling and statistical analysis of genetics trials
During their one-week visit to Hanoi, Chris, Rod and Jane engaged in a wide range of mentoring activities including:
- assistance with surveys of forest nurseries and forest growers
- providing a short refresher course in experimental design and analysis for tree improvement
- review of deployment strategies for improved acacia germplasm
- review of polyploid acacia breeding strategy
- molecular genetic studies on acacia, including development of a linkage map of the acacia hybrid genome and
- training in flow cytometry for screening of inducted polyploid seedlings.
Feedback from the course participants included:
“The visit is of great importance to IFTIB as it helps IFTIB review our breeding strategies for eucalyptus and acacia species to meet the challenges we face. Suggestion based on their observations and long term experiences have been very useful to us. The training in field trial design and advanced data analysis using Genstat has been great for our staff.” – Dr. Kien, IFTIB Director.
“During the visit, Jane helped set up the new protocol for our team by using the new standard and adjusting the ratio between the standard and sample size. As a result, the flow has worked well. She also gave us valuable comments on the experiment design in the nursery. I appreciate of her experience, passion, and enthusiasm. After this training, my staff and I can be confident to run the flow cytometry to finish our work with ACIAR and national projects.” Dr Thuy, course participant in flow cytometry.
Left: Members of the flow cytometry team Ngo Thu Hai, Mai Thi Phuong Thuy and Nguyen Thi Viet Ha in action advised by Jane. Right: Rod, Jane and Dr Thuy inspect eucalypt leaves that will be sampled for ploidy determination by flow cytometry, with IFTIB staff.
“The following week, I travelled to Dong Ha, Central Vietnam, to work with local VAFS staff on a scientific study comparing growth of acacia hybrid and eucalypt hybrid established stablished at Dong Ha station in 2018,” said Chris.
“This is an important trial because acacia plantations are dominant in central Vietnam. Recently developed disease-tolerant eucalypt hybrid clones offer an alternative choice for growers, such choice is desirable to reduce the risks of relying on a single planting species, but silvicultural methods must be developed for new species,” he said.
Chris led sampling to examine litter and soil characteristics under acacia and eucalypt treatments. He also provided a half-day training course in data handling and checking.
