A long-term production function for unbleached eucalypt kraft pulp, incorporating all growing, harvesting, transport, and pulping costs, and variable capital and operating costs, was used to determine the economic importance of standing volume, basic density, pulp yield, and stem form. The value of each trait to breeding was defined as the relative improvement toward the objective (of minimizing total pulp cost) for a given selection intensity when selecting for each trait individually. For genetic parameters typical of eucalypts, and with the aid of simulated first-geneneration eucalypt populations, density and standing volume were the most important traits, providing the greatest savings in total pulp cost. Combined selection using density and volume provided 95% of the gains possible from an index involving all traits (density, volume, pulp yield, and form). Selection for pulp yield alone provided only 53% of the savings possible from selection for density, and improvement in stem form had negligible effect on total pulp cost.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Forestry sciences
Research Field:	Tree improvement (incl. selection and breeding)
Objective Division:	Plant Production and Plant Primary Products
Objective Group:	Forestry
Objective Field:	Hardwood plantations
UTAS Author:	Greaves, BL (Dr Bruce Greaves)
UTAS Author:	Borralho, NMG (Dr Nuno Borralho)
ID Code:	11424
Year Published:	1997
Web of Science® Times Cited:	82
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	1997-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-09-07
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