marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

252Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishSummaryPlanted Eucalyptus occupies globally more than 18 million hectares and has become themost widely planted hardwood tree in the world, supplying high-quality woody biomassfor several industrial applications. In this chapter an overview is presented on the statusand perspectives of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in species of Eucalyptus. After anintroduction to the main features of modern eucalypt breeding and clonal forestry, someapplications of molecular markers in support to operational breeding are presented. Byreviewing the status of quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping in Eucalyptus, the challengesand some realistic prospects for the application of MAS to improve relevant traitsare outlined. With the expected availability of more powerful genomic tools, including adraft of the Eucalyptus genome, the main challenges in implementing MAS will be in phenotypingtrees accurately, analysing the overwhelming amount of genomic data availableand translating this into truly useful molecular tools for breeding.