Title : Are fast growth and drought tolerance two opposed properties in conifers? Scots pine case
Abstract:
Genetic degradation is a problem for the ecosystem, both ecologically and economically. The Swedish Forest is the outcome of a combination of natural regeneration and mainly human-driven planting with unenhanced and enhanced (breed) seeds from both Swedish and foreign origin. Little is known about the impact of breeding on present forest growth, wood quality, genetic diversity and its adaptability and resilience. To answer this question, six Scots pine forests were selected. Three were naturally regenerated and three were planted with breed seeds originated from seed orchards. In those six sites buds were collected from a total of 600 trees. Those samples were genotyped with a 50K SNP-Array and to conduct foliar endophytic biodiversity on the same DNA. Increment cores were collected from the same 600 trees to measure wood quality with X-ray absortion and diffraction (Silviscan, RISE). For assessing the resilience of those forests to climate change, seeds were collected and a drought essay together with a root phenotyping experiment conducted under controlled greenhouse conditions. The essay consisted in a new method using machine learning-based high throughput phenotyping to evaluate plant growth and development both in control and drought conditions. Root architecture was assessed at the end of the experiment to identify the genetic influence of root shape and its role in drought tolerance. At the end of the experiment, samples were collected from drought tolerant and sensitive families to perform a transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis. This will give information of how Scots pine plants from northern Sweden adapt to drought conditions.
