Tree Domestication

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Caption: Camcore member Terranova Katia Hernandez and consultant José Gregorio Alvarez with a plus-tree selection in Venezuela

Tree domestication is the management of trees to increase their benefit to humankind. We are able to domesticate trees through selection and breeding. In nature, the forces of the environment naturally select the fittest trees in the population. In artificial selection, we choose those trees that offer the best combination of adaptability, growth, wood properties, and disease resistance.

Domestication of plants has been practiced for millennia, and today most of the world’s major food crops are the product of years of artificial selection and breeding. Domestication of forest tree species with objectives such as increasing the growth rate, disease resistance, or wood quality in a population of trees has been practiced only since the dawn of the 20th century.

In Camcore’s domestication program, we select the best trees in both natural stands and plantations, and manually cross the “best” with the “best” to produce a new race of improved trees. In the process, Camcore always keeps a large number of trees in its conservation area so that we maintain broad adaptability while improving growth.

Techniques for selection and breeding can range from very simple to quite complex. For example, all of these methods can be useful approaches in tree domestication:

• Eliminating undesirable individuals in wild populations.
• Collecting and planting seeds from individuals with desirable traits.
• Vegetatively propagating individuals with desirable traits.
• Directing pollination among individuals with desirable traits.
• Conducting large-scale, planned trials for complex trait assessments.

Caption: Unimproved Pinus caribaea plantation material in northern Brazil

Caption: Plantation established from first generation Pinus caribaea seed orchard in Brazil