AVAILABILITY OF SEED OF CORDIA ALLIODORA (R & P) FOR PROGENY TESTING ¹

by

D.H. Boshier
Technical Cooperation Officer, Overseas Development Administration
United Kingdom

and

J.F. Mesén
Research Assistant, CATIE

Dept. of Renewable Natural Resources, CATIE
Turrialba, Costa Rica

SUMMARY

58 plus trees of Cordia alliodora were selected within natural stands in five provenance zones in the Atlantic region of Costa Rica. Details are presented of the method of selection, the selected trees and climatic conditions for the provenances. Information is given on the availability of seed.

INTRODUCTION

Cordia alliodora is a well known timber tree in tropical zones of Latin America and parts of the Caribbean. In Central America natural regeneration is generally profuse and is often maintained by farmers in combination with various perennial crops. It has been planted in trials in many countries. Reported growth has been excellent in some countries and led to the establishment of plantations, e.g. in Vanuatu (Hudson, 1984). In other countries growth has been variable to poor, sometimes with disappointing final yields (Stead, 1980; Anon, 1983).

The FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources has categorized C. alliodora as a very important species for wood production and in urgent need of botanical and genecological exploration, collecting and testing (FAO, 1977 & 1985). The Oxford Forestry Institute (OFI, formerly CFI) initiated a programme of international provenance trials of C. alliodora in 1977 collecting seed from the natural range, mainly in Central America (Stead, 1979; 1980). Results have been reported for a number of these provenance trials (Venegas, 1981; Anon., 1983; Boshier, 1984; Neil, 1984). These trials are also now being assessed by the OFI to obtain detailed information on provenance performance over a wide range of sites; and on the patterns of genetic variation found within the species.

C. alliodora is found in both the Atlantic (0–800 m.a.s.l.) and Pacific (0–1.200 m.a.s.l.) regions of Costa Rica, but is most common in the Atlantic region (wet tropical forest) where the tallest and best formed trees are found. In the dry Pacific region the trees are generally small (10–15 m in height) and of poor form. It is a prolific seeder regenerating easily; and is often found as pure stands in varying degrees of density. Natural stands show great phenotypic variation particularly in form characteristics (see Figures 1 to 4). In many cases selective felling appears to be degrading the gene pool.

SELECTION OF PLUS TREES

In 1983 the tree improvement project in CATIE (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza) initiated a plus tree selection programme for C. alliodora within natural stands in the Atlantic region of Costa Rica. Selection of plus trees within natural stands is difficult because of the impossibility to compare yield characteristics with neighbouring trees of unkown age. The medium to high heritabilities often found for form characteristics in other species (Zobel & Talbert, 1984) and the great variability shown by the natural stands suggests, however, that significant gains may be possible from selection within such stands. Selection made concentrated on form rather than production characteristics, and was based on adaptation of Brown and Goddard (1961) and Strauss (1976). Examples of some of the selected trees are shown in Figures 2–4.

Although visits were made to most parts of the Atlantic region, trees of sufficient standard were found only in five provenance regions. Two of these (Turrialba and San Carlos) correpond to provenances established in the OFI trials, whilst the Limon provenance did not yield any suitable trees. The other three (Guápiles, Talamanca and Upala) have not previously been sampled. Figure 5 shows the area covered in the search for trees and the location of the provenances where trees were selected. Table 1 gives details of the selected trees whilst Table 2 gives climatic data for the different areas. During 1986–87 selections will be made within stands in the dry Pacific region of Costa Rica.

SEED COLLECTION

Open pollinated seed was collected during 1984–86 by climbing the trees and cutting the mature inflorescences. The seed was then dried in the shade to a relative humidity of less than 10% and kept in a cold store at 5°C. Half-sib progeny trials using this material are being planted by the CATIE tree improvement project on three sites (Turrialba, San Carlos and Talamanca) during 1986. A clone bank containing the selected trees is being established using material grafted on to nursery stock by the side veneer technique.

AVAILABILITY OF SEED

Seed from these collections will be made available to interested countries for progeny trials to be established over a range of sites. People who wish to receive sets of seed for establishment of progeny trials should write directly to: BLSF, CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica. Requests for seed together with all necessary import permits should reach the Banco Latinoamericano de Semillas Forestales (BLSF, CATIE) at least three months before the seed is required for sowing. The seed will be distributed with a phytosanitary certificate. Special instructions about compulsory pesticide treatments and import permits must accompany each request.

Seed recipients will, in due course, be asked to supply information on the trials they establish. Recommendations for a standardized experimental design will be included with the seed in the hope that assessment of trials over a range of environments will be possible. The cost of one set of seed lots will be US$ 50, mainly to cover the cost of documentation, despatch and handling. Offers of seed exchange will also be considered.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was financed by the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) of the United Kingdom and the Swiss Programme of Cooperation for Development (DDA). Thanks are due to José Masís, José F. Granados, Gerardo Barquero and Rolando Núñez for their help in the field.

REFERENCES

ANON. 1983 Resumen de investigaciones sobre la especie Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav) Oken - “Laurel”. In: CONIF Informe No. 2. Corporación Nacional de Investigación y Fomento Forestal, Colombia. 17 pp.

BOSHIER, D.H. 1984 The international provenance trial of Cordia alliodora (R & P) Oken in Costa Rica. In: Provenance and genetic improvement strategies in tropical forest trees, Mutare, Zimbabwe, April 1984. Eds. Barnes, R.D. and Gibson G.L. Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford and Forest Research Centre, Harare. pp. 168–185.

BROWN, C.L. and GODDARD, R.E. 1961 Silvicultural considerations in the selection of plus tree phenotypes. J. For 59(6):420–426.

FAO 1977 Report of the Fourth Session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources. Canberra, Australia, 9–11th March 1977. FAO. FO: FGR/4/Rep. 75 pp.

FAO 1985 Report of the Fifth Session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources. Rome, Italy, Dec. 1981. FAO. FO: FGR/5/Rep. 101 pp.

HUDSON, J.M. 1984 A note on Cordia alliodora in Vanuatu. Common. For. Rev. 63(3):181–183.

NEIL, P.E. 1984 A fast growing tropical hardwood species - Cordia alliodora Cham. in Vanuatu. In: Provenance and genetic improvement strategies in tropical forest trees, Mutare, Zimbabwe, April, 1984. Eds. Barnes, R.D. and Gibson, G.L. Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford and Forest Research Centre, Harare, pp. 423–425.

STEAD, J.W. 1979 Exploration, collection and evaluation of Cordia alliodora (R & P) Oken. In Forest Genetic Resources Information No. 9, pp. 24–31. Forestry Occasional Paper 1979/1. FAO, Rome.

STEAD, J.W. 1980 Commonwealth Forestry Institute international provenance trials of Cordia alliodora (R & P) Oken. Eleventh Commonwealth Forestry Conference, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. September 1980. 17 pp.

STRAUSS, F.C. 1976 Seed orchard establishment of laurel, Cordia alliodora in Costa Rica. CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica. 34 pp.

Fig. 1 Natural regeneration of C. alliodora	Fig. 2 Plus tree no.5
Fig. 3 Plus tree no.8	Fig. 4 Plus tree no. 12

Fig. 5 Map showing the location of provenances within which plus trees were selected. 800 metre contour is marked to indicate approximate distribution of C.alliodora on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica

TABLE 1. DETAILS OF PLUS TREES OF C. alliodora SELECTED WITHIN COSTA RICA

¹ Plus tree character for dominans, branching, form, etc. i.e. quality. The more points the better

TABLE 2. Climatic data for the plus trees of C. alliodora selected within Costa Rica

¹ Manuscript received June 1986