APPLICATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY TO FORESTRY - MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY OF CONIFERS

Genetic improvement in plantation forestry relies significantly on con ventional breeding techniques which have been used extensively to impr ove various characteristics in forest trees such as growth and form, v olume yield, resistance to pathogens and quality of the end product. T his review concentrates on molecular techniques which have been used s uccessfully in agriculture and which have more recently become availab le to improve further characteristics of forest trees and introduce ne w traits which are currently not available in the breeding population.