Future of tree planting in the Philippines phenotypic characterization of current seed sources

This is a discourse about the future quality of five (5) commonly planted reforestation/tree farming species int he Philippines, namely Gmelina arborea, Swietenia macrophylla, Acacia mangium, Pterocarpus indicus and Eucalyptus deglupta. The future quality of the trees in plantations and farms were assessed based on the Phenotypic characterization of the current seed sources for these tree species. Formal and informal seed sources specifically that from (a) corporate; (b) DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Quezon City (Philippines)] managed; (c) Academe-based; (d) smallholder tree farm and; (e) joint DENR-CBFM [Community Based Forest Management] sources were evaluated in selected sites in the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. There are 23 seed sources for Gmelina which originated from Myanmar. Identified plus trees ranged from 20 to 158 trees. Specific provenance(s) or populations) could not be traced due to poor recording practices prevalent not only for these species but for the other species as well. Institutional seed sources (academe, corporate and DENR) have more straight trees than smallholder tree farms or CBFM. Poorly formed trees continue to proliferate in many designated seed sources thus contaminating the trees with good genotypes resulting in a mixture of good and poor trees in the resulting plantation or farms. Twenty-two S. macrophylla seed sources are available around the country. The land races available in the country originated from Calcutta, India and spread starting from 1913 when it was planted in the Makiling Forest Reserve. Few of the trees examined were good in form and many have low merchantable height. Similar to Gmelina there are some good mahogany trees but the presence of poor phenotypes in the stand continue to contaminate the genetic pool producing a mixture of good and poor trees, with predominance towards the latter category. For A. mangium, several seed orchards from diverse seed origins are available notably from its native source in Australia. Institutional seed sources have better access to these selected sources from abroad, thus they were able to establish very good seed orchards. Consequently the plantations of corporate groups have better trees than the smallholder tree farm or CBFM. The national tree, P. indicus has 14 identified sources with plus trees ranging from 10 to 123. Straight trees are not too few nor many across the sources. However, many seed sources are characterized by fluted and multi-branched trees which are highly undesirable for wood processing as plywood. However, there are few identified seed sources with good form which calls for their immediate conservation and widespread propagation of these threatened trees. E. deglupta, the other indigenous tree species have only three (3) identified seed sources but one source has 200 plus trees in it. Straight trees do not abound so much among the sources and like P. indicus, fluting is a problem in many of the trees examined. It is uncertain but presumably the exotics have very narrow genetic base compared to the two indigenous tree species. This highlights the potential peril of possible pest and disease epidemic. The current tree seed policy DAO 95-09 did not fully succeed in regulating production, collection, and disposition of high quality seeds. It is undergoing revisions with good components added to it, but falls short to include a national tree improvements program. The country is predicted to incur further wood deficit if the current plantations do not increase in yield and improve in form. To address this problem, the paper strongly suggests the following recommendations. First and foremost is the institutionalization of a vibrant and robust tree improvement program anchored in the philosophy of better and improved wood production for the industry. It should be local to national in scope, no-nonsense implementation, and not ningas kugon nor leader-based. Tree improvement should be complemented by a comprehensive silvicultural management from species/family deployment to protection. CENROs should start developing their trial plantations cum progeny tests using seed from the identified plus trees in their area of jurisdiction. The participation of TLA/IFMA and CBFMA holders and private tree owners should be widely established in highly accessible and visible sites to attract attention and more importantly financial support from policy makers and local government units as well private tree farmers. A viable system of distributing improved seeds or planting stocks should be set in place to provide CBFM and smallholder tree farmers access to these improved planting stocks. Lastly, re-tooling of reforestation personnel to increase appreciation and competence in tree improvement and weed technology is necessary to spread the benefits of the program. The University should continuously produce graduates with deep appreciation and competence for tree improvement and seed technology. Likewise, the research agenda on tree improvement and seed technology should be vigorously pursued collaboratively with other institutions. The University's land resources could be utilized for plantation development employing improved seeds or planting stocks.