Early Assessment of First Year Height Data from Five Acacia mearnsii (black wattle) Sub-populations in South Africa using REML/BLUP

Recent research has shown, Acacia mearnsii (black wattle) to be a source of high quality pulp. This led to a change in the emphasis in the breeding programme at the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research, from improving bark yield and quality, to improving timber yield and quality while maintaining an acceptable bark quality. A Multiple Population Breeding Strategy was implemented to cater for these changes. Five sub-populations were established across different sites in KwaZulu- Natal and were determined by origin of seed. Each sub-population was established as a progeny trial with a seedling seed orchard adjacent to it. The management of the seed orchards will be determined according to the performance of the families within the progeny trials. This paper reports on the first year height measurements taken from the five sub-populations. The intention of this paper is not to base any selections from this data but rather to establish a set of analyses using REML/BLUP which will be used for future data analysis. This will also allow for future assessment of age-age correlations for the various traits being assessed and provide an appropriate decision-making tool, for selecting individuals for future generations.