Yield Potential of selected Eucalyptus genetic stock on the sandy soils of the South African Cape West Coast

Abstract

Land available for afforestation in the Western Cape Region has largely been subordinate to agriculture. Eucalypt species have never been tested intensively along the West Coast. Climatic matching suggests planting of species from West Australia as native habitat introductions, or from seed sources in the Mediterranean region where eucalypt species have been tried successfully, such as Morocco and Israel. Promising growth of eucalypt hybrids on marginal sites in the summer rainfall areas of South Africa prompted the inclusion oflocal as well as some hybrid seedlots obtained from Morocco.