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Optimising South Africa's wood resource:
creating high value timber
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CSIR
(Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) |
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Proposal number: |
41217 |
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Focal area: |
Biotechnology |
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Total funding: |
R 3,450,000 |
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Funding year 1: |
R 1,017,000 |
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Funding year 2: |
R 1,335,000 |
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Funding year 3: |
R 1,098,000 |
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Eucalypts, South Africa's most extensively grown hardwood
species, are prone to wood splitting which renders the timber
primarily appropriate only for pulp production. In order to
transform this vast timber resource into one suitable for the
production of high value products such as veneer and sawn timber,
this tendency of eucalypts to split has to be overcome. To achieve
this objective, the project will use the innovative approach of
combining quantitative genetic techniques with DNA fingerprinting
and molecular marker technologies in order to fast-track the
development of a non destructive early screening technique for
non-splitting eucalypts. Since this inherited trait is expressed
as the tree matures, the technological challenge is to identify
high and low splitting genotypes at a young age so that good
genetic material will be employed in production. An additional
objective is to ensure the efficient release and distribution of
good performing non-splitting eucalypts to small-scale emergent
growers and interested companies, for the benefit of the country
and its people. |
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Project Coordinator: |
Dr Eugenia Barros
Phone: +27 (0)12 841 3221 or 2897
Email: ebarros@csir.co.za |
Public reports / Newsletters:
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