Pine Provenance Research in South Africa: Promises and Problems

Abstract

Provenance research really started with the work of H.L. Duhamel Du Monceau on Pinus sylvestris in the eighteenth century. In South Africa the first properly designed provenance trials were established between 1934 and 1936 with the testing of five races of Pinus pinaster. Since then the South African Forestry Research Institute has planted 220 provenance trials of 30 different pine trees. That number is increasing rapidly with the planting of material supplied by the Central America and Mexico Coniferous Resources Cooperative (CAMCORE). World experience shows that large genetic gains can be expected from choosing the right provenance of a given forest tree species. Pinus patula in South Africa shows large provenance and family-by-site interactions. This indicates the necessity for testing the same set of provenances on a large number of sites if provenance matching to site and the exact delineation of breeding zones are contemplated.