WOOD PROPERTIES OF 20 HIGHLY RANKED RADIATA PINE SEED PRODUCTION PARENTS SELECTED FOR GROWTH AND FORM

Twenty highly ranked radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) seed producti on parent trees, grown under a commercial sawlog regime, were destruct ively assessed at rotation age (27 years) for wood quality traits sign ificant to solid-wood and veneer products, including: juvenile-wood de nsity, density variation, juvenile-wood spiral grain, compression wood , and appearance characteristics such as within-ring internal checking and resin pockets. Traits varied considerably among parents, which is reasonable since breeding efforts in New Zealand have, until recently , focused primarily on stem productivity and form. Parental informatio n is useful for many wood properties swing to their high heritabilitie s in radiata pine (usually 50-80%); thus production forests establishe d using advanced-generation genetic materials can also be expected to be variable in wood properties. Like other fast-grown pines, much of t he radiata pine crop is juvenile wood, and an important challenge for tree improvement is to ensure that juvenile wood properties meet proce ssor and end-user requirements.