In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

409Gmelina arborea. Current activities were specifically designed for breedingpurposes as recommended in the ITTO Project PD 16/96 Rev. 4(F), ‘Ex situConservation of Shorea leprosula and Lophopetalum multinervium and TheirUse for Future Breeding and Biotechnology.In situ conservation in the plantation area is designed to provide agenetically diverse resource that still has evolutionary potential to improve thebreeding program. Most of the in situ conservation areas are natural foreststhat are excluded from the plantation area within a region. These areas maytake the form of a compact, contiguous forest or be scattered along the riverbankswithin the plantation concession. From these in situ conservation areas thegood phenotypes of selected priority species were identified and their seedswere collected for breeding programs.To improve genetic diversity in the selected priority species, the seedsand seedlings of identified plus trees from outside the region are collected forplanting material, as well as for establishing hedge orchards which will be usedin the tree improvement programs. Although this approach may change thegenetic characteristic of the population (Isoda et al. 2001, this conference) thissystem is still considered to be the most appropriate for a Dipterocarp breedingprogram, since the conventional methods utilizing sexual reproduction wouldhave limitations like floral phenology and lengthy reproductive cycles.ConclusionDipterocarp plantation is one of the most important programs in forest plantationand rehabilitation in Indonesia. Despite some limitations in planting stockproduction and the variability in growth rate of the Dipterocarpaceae, treeimprovement through selection and vegetative propagation are considered tobe appropriate methods for these species.Ex situ and in situ conservation areas within the plantation concessionareas play an important role in providing genetic resources for these improvementprograms. Therefore, these conservation activities must be included in thedipterocarp plantation establishment strategy in order to have a sustainable,highly productive forest plantation.ReferencesAshton. P.S. 1982. Dipterocarpaceae. Flora Malesiana Seri I, Vol. 9(2), pp 237-552.Isoda, K., Yasman, I., Rimbawanto, A., & Prihatini, I. (in press). Estimation of genetic variationof Shorea leprosula in the hedge orchard in the Dipterocarp Center (Inhutani I), EastKalimantan, Indonesia, using DNA markers. Paper presented at the Intl. Conference on Exsitu and In situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees, held In Jogyakarta 11-13 June2001. 7pp.