Cone Handling, Monitoring and Tree Seed Centre Overview BCSOA - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cone Handling, Monitoring and Tree Seed Centre Overview

BCSOA 2016 Dave Kolotelo Dave.Kolotelo@gov.bc.ca

Overview

• Cone Handling

BCSOA 2014 Cone Maturation, Collection, Storage and Handling http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and- industry/forestry/docs/tree-seed-docs/tree-seed- centre/cone_maturation_collection_storage_and_handling_bcsoa_14.pdf

• Tree Seed Centre

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/forestry/managing-our- forest-resources/tree-seed

• The Interface – think of seedlot or seedling production as a relay

– it’s the baton handoffs that are really critical!

Communication and better understanding of each others activities and bottlenecks This applies within facilities as well as between

Baseline Biology = “Common Sense”

• 1. Variation is the rule with conifers – the trick is

knowing when to split and when to lump (i.e. clones, SPU)

• 2. Higher the cone moisture content the greater chance
• f damage or incomplete seed extraction
• 3. The earlier the collection relative to natural

dispersal (i.e. higher moisture) the more attention needs to be paid to post-collection handling

• 4. Impurities in a collection can add moisture, pests or

physically damage seeds

• 5. Final germination is a function of collection timing,

cone handling, processing and seed pretreatment.

Crop Handling Sequence

Things you can influence other than seed set

• 1. Cone Collection
• 2. Interim Storage at Orchard Site
• 3. Transport (and associated handling)
• 4. Interim Storage at Tree Seed Centre
• 5. Cone Processing (Kilning/air drying)
• 6. Seed Processing
• 7. Long-term Storage

Moisture Purity 40-60% Highly Variable

Some facilities screen off debris

15-35% 12-30% 8% 7% 7% 97% +

One Time Activities

• Collection, post-collection handling, transport & processing
• Care, organization and $ invested at these stages will be

‘captured’ for the entire life of a seedlot (not the place to be cheap)

• Do you only quality assure your cones during development?

until they are in the sacks? Until they leave your site?

• Do you know what conditions your harvested cones experienced?

“Risk Management” requires a real appreciation of when risks are greatest and what the costs of failure are

• Maximum cone dry weight achieved prior

to full maturation (Anatomical →

Physiological)

• Very high initial moisture content (60%+)
• Cone drying is accompanied by build-up of

storage components in megagametophyte and embryo

– Simple sugars  complex sugars, fats, proteins

• Megagametophyte changes from jelly-like

to firm and white

• Embryo growth is rapid
• Conifer seeds are not vascularized
• Cones have one vascular strand into bract

and two traces into the scale which branch

• Embryo nourishment is supplied primarily

from embryonic fluid in the corrosion cavity secreted from the megagametophyte

Cone Morphological Observations

• Cone maturity is tied to a reduction in moisture and lignification of

tissues (woody structure)

• Extremes in appearance are obvious –the earliest we can pick

cones is not so obvious from cone morphology

• cone colour, bract colour, firmness - degree of scale flexing (1953)
• Seed or seed wing colour are not great indicators, especially with

seed orchard crops – large variability between clones

• Seed wing release from cone scale is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

– Separation of seed from ovuliferous scale

Cone “Axis Test”

• KAL credit Kudo’s (Chris and Gary)
• Assessment of moisture level / cone independence
• Quick and easy to perform in the field!
• Useful for interior spruce, Douglas-fir and western larch
• Cut cone longitudinally – does axis appear brown and dry?

Indicating link with tree has been severed

• Or does it still contain moisture (Gary suggest running

knife blade on axis – look for water droplets)

Collection Timing

can have a large Impact on Germination

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% July 11 July 18 July 25

• Aug. 1
• Aug. 8
• Aug. 15
• Aug. 22
• Aug. 29
• Sept. 5
• Sept. 12
• Sept. 19
• Sept. 26

Germination Capacity (%)

Collection Date

VSOC 218 KAL 307 PGTIS

Sx - Interior Spruce

Seeds must reach a stage at which they are independent of the tree for moisture and nutrition

Western Larch Collection Timing

Clonal Intimacy

• How we sample – (pest, crop, maturity) Is it representative ?
• How we collect?

Lumping or Splitting – Down the rows $ – Groups of phenologically similar clones $$ (Early, Mid, Late) – Clonally $$$$ – Within-clone $$$$$$ (orchard hot or cool spots, aspect)

• What can you gain by clonal intimacy?

– Knowing what to clump or split (extra initial work)

• What clones can be collected early – widen the window

– Eliminating clones that have germination issues – Flexibility to take advantage of new Breeding Values – Better understanding of real seedlot composition (genomics?)

VSOC Sx Results

• Vernon seed orchard company has invested

greatly in clonal processing and identifying clones with germination problems in spruce

• Some clones had significant, unsolved

germination problems – (60-70%; one at 35%)

• Elimination was the solution with 8 clones

removed from the weevil resistant orchard

• Orchard now averages 94% germination

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Fdc Pli SX

Seed Yield (Kg/Hl)

Family Bulk

100 200 300 400 500 600 700

8 5 9 1 … 1 … 1 … 9 8 8 9 2 9 9 9 9 8 1 1 1 … 1 …

Seeds per Gram

1996 1997

Some yield gains through family processing – not large enough to justify additional cost Greatest opportunity with Fdc – consideration for bumper crops Clonal variability Year-Year variation in traits and their variability

Cone Collection Due Diligence

• Use new sacks or properly sterilized sacks (steam/hot water)
• Limit amount of debris included (moisture / pests / abrasive)
• Move sacks daily from collection site to interim storage
• Correct Identification (Outside and Inside sacks)
• Fill sacks ½ to ⅓ full to minimize heat build-up / allow cone expansion
• Keep sacks off ground / on sides (vs. hanging) to reduce weight
• Place sacks in shady, cool environment with good air circulation (fans help!)

protected from the elements and pests

• Turn sacks to encourage uniformity, discourage clumping

– Frequency depends on cone moisture content

• Examine cones during cone storage –

– Know how your cones look at shipping, not just at picking

Biennial Collection issues

• Collecting lodgepole pine cones every two years can

be very cost efficient

• What are you losing?
• Do you know what proportion of your clones retain
• r lose their serotiny? Clonal Consistency?
• Rough estimated range is 10-40% cones are non-

serotinous at time of kiln loading for orchard lodgepole

• Even without seed dispersal the removal of the serotiny

allows a pathogen to enter a usually pathogen-free environment

Cedar Collections

• We used to have a strict policy regarding amount of

debris in redcedar collections (15%)

• There are good reasons to exclude debris, but their may

be some advantages with these small cones by improving aeration and assisting uniformity of drying

• Removing potential cone sites vs. creating new ones

No, Thank you No, Thank you

Yes, please

Cone Storage

• Goal is to slowly dry the cones and complete maturation process

(Anatomical→ Physiological) maximizing seed extractability & germination

• Physiological changes continue after anatomical maturity has

been reached Serotinous cones can be stacked

♥ ♥ ♥

How rapidly do Cones lose moisture?

• Kalamalka weighed and recorded the same individual

cones weekly throughout interim storage in organza bags

• Upon receipt at the TSC this was continued until

extraction when an oven-dry weight was determined

• This allowed us to determine individual cone MC at each

date for the same cones (≈20 cones per species)

• One could also determine filled seed per cone, as most

non-serotinous species shed seed before arriving at TSC

• Graphs seem to work better with days since collection
• vs. date (TSWG Newsbulletin)

• The rapid rate of cone drying was quite surprising
• Within 2 weeks cones had dried down to 10-12% moisture content
• This tells me that this is the time to focus on cone MC – turning sacks +
• Don’t know if this is due to the high 2015 temperatures or standard

What Moisture Content Should Cones be?

• For Pli, there has been some good work in Alberta

(Kare Hellum)

• Drier the cone –quicker serotiny is released, moister

the cone the greater scale reflection

• Best extraction at about 16% moisture content (fw basis)
• In terms of seed orchard crops for most species

much of the seed is released prior to kilning

• Main concern is rate of drying and transportation

risks of shipping moist cones

• Review of TSC data underway

BC Tree Seed Centre

Deliver “Excellence in Cone and Seed Services”

• 13 full-time and 6-8 auxiliary staff
• Tour focus will be on Cone and Seed Processing, Inventory

Management and Testing

• Often unsung heroes include Facilities, Finance and

Administration and Management staff (IT staff function removed)

• A combination of Stewardship and Cost Recovery activities

Cone Collection Testing Seed Processing Cone Processing Post-Collection Handling Sowing Pretreatment Storage Registration

C l I e n t s / S t a k e h o l d e r s / C o m m u n I t y o f P r a c t I c e C

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Seed Handling System

• Examines all steps of seed

handling from collection to use

• Systems approach
• ID throughout = seedlot

integrity

• Principles rather than exact

procedures

• “Recipes” are for agriculture
• Product value increases
• Any previous “Link” can

impact your product

• ‘Art and Science’

ID

Cone and Seed Processing

Purity Viability Extraction

We performed all of BC’s need in 2015 – Cost Recovery

* *

Cone and Seed Processing

Cone Processing

Remove Released Seed Tumbling

(seed removal)

Kilning

(cone opening)

• An initial screening separates

released seed + debris from cones (avoid kilning free seed)

• Kilning overnight
• Peak temperature
• Pli

60 C

• Most

40 C

• Cw, Hw, Abies spp. not kilned
• Mini-kiln trials – Pli focus
• Tumble to remove seed

(Extraction Efficiency monitoring ) Re-Treat?

• Client Input in future.

Cone Processing (No Kilning)

resin vesicle species

Seed Processing

• Remove abrasive, moisture and fungi containing material ASAP

(Purity)

• Ensure viable seed not lost with debris
• Anatomy differences determine method of dewinging (next slide)
• Possibly secondary cleaning
• Final cleaning to remove empty or dead seeds (Viability)

Initial Cleaning

(scalping)

Drying Liquid Separation Dry Dewinging Final Cleaning Wet Dewinging

Lodgepole, Ponderosa, White pine Douglas-fir, Larch

Purity –debris removal

Viability

Dewinging

Wet Dry

Final Cleaning and Blending

Final cleaning involves creating multiple fractions and assessing seed anatomy via cutting tests

Process to Chief Foresters Standards requirements

• clean to a minimum of 97% purity (Pli ≈ 99.9%)
• dry to a moisture content between 4-9.9% (Aw)

Blending of TSC and other processors products before sampling and storage

Cutting Tests

• Seed anatomy tests
• Vital to assessing seed maturity

and predicting viability

• embryo length in relation to

corrosion cavity (> 90%)

• megagametophyte ‘texture’

(coconut analogy)

• Goal is to predict viable seed

enabling lumping or splitting decisions on processing fractions

classification isn’t always black and white = Art

Inventory Management

• Stewardship (Seed storage, registration) and

Cost Recovery (stratification, pelleting) activities

• 76 000 kg of seed resides in storage (31% Surplus)
• Enough seed for 7.8 Billion seedlings
• Estimated value $85M at current seed prices
• Primary reason the TSC is designated as a Mission Critical

facility in case of natural disaster - *facilities*

• Some seedlots have been in storage for 60 years
• Seed stored in polyethylene bags with air expelled in wax

cardboard boxes – labels on box, on bag and inside bag

• We also have a dedicated genetic conservation seed bank ≈

12000 samples (all trees)

Seedlot Genetic Worth Update Process

• New breeding values from respective breeder
• Passes through a multi-handed review
• If parental contribution data is available for

your seedlot then the Genetic Worth will be updated ‘automatically’ on SPAR

• Can view GW or Area of use history on SPAR
• If you don’t have parental contribution data

then the seedlot is not updated

Seed Preparation & Shipping

Activities

• Scheduling
• Manage changes * (4X / each SRQ)
• Withdraw seed
• Prepare seed
• soak and stratify
• pellet
• send dry
• Monitor ( esp. Yc, Ba, Bl, Pw)
• Label and ship seed
• We perform 96% of BC’s need

Testing

• Conduct Standard tests (Seedlots)
• Purity
• Moisture content
• Average seed weight 100 seeds
• Germination (possibly several tests)
• X-ray, possibly fungal assays
• Identify/schedule seed for retesting GC
• (18 months –Cw, Yc to 48 months SS)
• ISTA/ AOSA are primary guides
• Conduct QA tests (samples– i.e. SRQ)
• Cone moisture content
• SRQ GC + mc, unkilned seed
• Returned seed, pellet assessment
• Cutting tests, observations

MC Purity SD WT 100 GC

Priority Processing

• New process for ranking priority processing requests which

prioritizing all phases of seedlot production

Principles

– Only available for BC seedlots – Seedlots with problems need immediate attention – Need to consider operational efficiencies

Priorities

1. Less than one year’s supply of Surplus seed with GW≥ 5 AND an early sow species (Fd, Sx, Hw Pw, Cw) 2. Less than one year’s supply of Surplus seed with GW≥ 5 AND a late sow species. 3. More than one years’ supply of Surplus seed with GW≥ 5 4. Requests for priority processing on family lots or for trials. We are also updating SPAR to allow clients to view seedlot status: Seedlot receipt; extraction, blending and testing

Trial or Family Processing

• The TSC has been pleased to help with some of

the trial work going on in seed orchards

• Pesticide trials, collection timing and family
• We would like those requesting this service to

adopt our ‘family’ processing numbers and we will supply labels to attach to cone tags

• Big help to us: Thank you

EXTENSION

Tree Seed Working Group Newsbulletin

Dave.Kolotelo@gov.bc.ca

The Interface

• Whether you like the relay race analogy or the forest to clearing

analogy – this is usually the exciting area

• Communication is key and understanding each others activities

and bottlenecks = education – happy to have the opportunity

• TSC messages are that it is always better to over-label as this

allows for us to potentially apply customized handling services:

– Higher pest fractions – Earliest collected cones or clones – Most recently collected cones or clones – The crap that happens. Don’t hide your problems, otherwise it just gets blended into the seedlot – isolating an issue maximizes opportunities

• When uncertain, please send a pre-collection sample of cones.

No charge for that if your cones are being processed by us.

Seed Storage Inventory Management Testing

Afternoon Break

Seed Processing Cone Processing TSC Tour Starting Point

X X X X X AgSafeBC Safety Session X – Eating Areas

C lient service is our focus O pen to new opportunities N eed to find solutions E xcellence in cone and seed services is our mission H elping reforest British Columbia E xperienced >300 years A daptable D ynamic business environment S cience & best practices are our operating principles