Establishment of Acacia mangium seedling seed orchards
Six Acacia mangium seedling seed orchards were established in 1990 and 1991. The orchards were initially set up as trials to test for superior provenances, families and individuals.
The trials were measured and thinned to produce seedling seed orchards. Thinning was conducted using a combined selection index that includes information from both the individual tree and its family, for traits such as growth, stem form and wood density, leaving only the best trees to produce seed.
Each orchard was established with seed from a specific natural provenance (eg. far north Queensland or northern Papua New Guinea), each containing a different number of families, ranging from 36 up to 104.
Site details of the six orchards
Lannercost orchards:
- 36 families from PNG North; 0.8 hectares; 50m above sea level
- 80 families from far north QLD; 1.9 hectares; 90m above sea level
Damper orchard:
- 104 families from PNG South West; 2.7 hectares; 20m above sea level
Kuranda orchards
- 70 families from PNG North; 1.1 hectares; 400m above sea level
- 59 families from far north QLD; 1.1 hecatres; 400m above sea level
- 47 families from PNG South East; 0.8 hectares; 400m above sea level
Seed Availability
A. mangium seed from the Queensland seed orchards are available for purchase.
The Australian Tree Seed Centre also stocks A. mangium seed from overseas collaborators’ orchards.