Pinheiros do Futuro – Greater volume of wood for sawmills

This video report from the PINUS Centre, filmed in the Alva de Pataias Forest Perimeter, tells us about some of the new stages in the maritime pine genetic improvement program, driven by the transForm agenda.

Centro PINUS is one of the 56 entities that are part of the transForm Agenda, funded by the PRR, through a project that is giving new impetus to the maritime pine genetic improvement program and will lead to an increase in the availability of better quality seeds and plants with genetic gain.

One of the goals of this project will be to set up three clonal orchards to produce more productive seed, which will increase the capacity for (re)afforestation with improved plants to around 6,000 hectares per year.

In March 2023, the first field work began for the installation of one of these orchards in the Alva de Pataias Forest Perimeter, an area managed by the ICNF.

From the outset, the PINUS Center has monitored grafting activities on the ground under the guidance of INIAV, using plant material (forks) collected from trials and stands set up in the Escaroupim National Forest and the Serra da Malcata Nature Reserve.

A year later, in April 2024, the success of the first campaign was celebrated while work on the second grafting phase was underway. This operation involved a team of around 30 professionals from 6 different entities, coordinated by the PINUS Center.

In addition to the future seed orchard that is being born in Pataias, this project also includes the installation of two more orchards by grafting: one will be located in the Dunas de Vagos National Forest and the other in PINUSLAND, the forestry demonstration area managed by the PINUS Center in the district of Coimbra.

But what are the advantages of grafting in this R&D project? And what are the advantages for the pine sector of increasing plant availability with genetic gains in tree volume and shape?

In this article we answer these questions and tell you about some of the new stages in the maritime pine genetic improvement program driven by the transForm agenda, a project funded by the PRR.