FastTRAC-ing Better Commercial Spruce Trees

Funding: $6,200,000

This three-province venture scales up an earlier project and proven genomic selective breeding technologies to develop new varieties of commercial spruce that can withstand climate change.

Through a $6.2 million R&D partnership with Genome Quebec, three provincial governments and several industry partners, Genome Atlantic is expanding earlier work that resulted in an estimated 10% increase in production of commercial species on the test sites. The current project scales up proven technology to speed up breeding programs for more resilient, premium quality black and red spruce.

New research approved for Atlantic salmon aquaculture and forestry

For immediate release – March 9, 2022

Halifax, NS – Two multi-million-dollar research and innovation projects, one to benefit Atlantic Canada’s salmon aquaculture industry and the other to aid the sustainability of the Maritimes’ forestry sector, were announced today by the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne.

The two ventures were among 10 research initiatives included in the Minister’s announcement of approved projects from the latest competition round of Genome Canada’s Genomic Applications Partnership Program, known as GAPP.

The aquaculture project, to be managed by Genome Atlantic, is a four-year $4.7 million initiative to improve commercial Atlantic salmon broodstock.

The forestry project is a three-year $6.2 million venture to speed up development of new varieties of red and black spruce that can withstand climate change. The tree species are widely used in Eastern Canada’s forest industry. The project will be managed by Génome Québec and supported by Genome Atlantic.

JDI used genomics data to select and remove from this orchard the poorest growing white spruce trees. This photo from February 2019 shows the freshly cut stumps. Photo credit: JD Irving Ltd.

FasTRAC-ing better spruce

July 2020

JD Irving Ltd., also known as JDI, the Canadian forestry company based in New Brunswick, is leaping ahead with genomic selection, a technology that promises so much efficiency, it could eventually eclipse conventional tree breeding practices.

At the company’s six-hectare, second generation white spruce seed orchard in Parkindale, N.B., JDI has been using genomic predictions, based on diagnostic tools developed during FastTRAC, to cull what Mr. Sherrill described as “the least desirable parents” for new white spruce. “By using genomics, we were able to do this several years earlier than we normally do,” he said. The estimated time saving was eight years, compared to traditional methods that require more tree growth before field test data can be collected and analyzed.

Indeed, with genomic profiles, the genetic value of a tree can be estimated while it is still a seedling, reducing the need for field evaluation. By contrast, conventional breeding practices can require growers to wait up to 20 years before some economically and environmentally important traits can be assessed in the field. FastTRAC showed genomic selection, which can predict the breeding value of a candidate tree for many traits of interest using its genomic profile, will reduce the timeline for the selection of enhanced reforestation stock by 20 to 25 years in spruces.