Genomic Selection for New Zealand Forestry

Radiata pine is the world’s most planted exotic conifer with over four million hectares worldwide, and constitutes 90% of the plantation forest estate in New Zealand. Currently the breeding programme is up to the third generation, suggesting that the genetic potential of this highly heterozygous outcrossing species is still largely untapped. Scion is assisting the Radiata Pine Breeding Company to develop Genomic Selection to accelerate the breeding programme and deliver genetic gains in a much shorter time frame than phenotypic selection. Leveraging off an existing transcriptomic resource, we have developed an exome-capture probe panel with assistance from Rapid Genomics LLC. We present results from the optimisation of this panel and the design of robust filtering pipelines, and report on the estimated genome coverage and the number of SNPs generated using this panel.

The remaining 10% of New Zealand’s commercial forest estate is a combination of other exotic softwoods and exotic hardwoods. Within the hardwoods, the Eucalyptus spp. are of particular interest. Eucalyptus nitens shows promise as a vigorous species for planted forests, and is well-suited to many New Zealand sites. Eucalyptus regnans and Eucalyptus fastigata are also popular choices for both pulp and carbon sequestration. The existing multi-species Eucalyptus SNP chip EuCHIP60K is facilitating the introduction of genomic selection into these eucalypt breeding programmes. We have successfully genotyped E. nitens with the EuCHIP60K and present here results from additional testing of other species including E. regnans and E. fastigata.