Peteribí (Cordia trichotoma), Lapacho Rosado (Handroanthus impetiginosus), and Cebil Colorado (Anadenanthera colubrina var. cebil): Three Valuable Species with Incipient Breeding Programs

Abstract

The development of forestry in Argentina has been based on the cultivation of fast-growing introduced species, mainly from the Pinus, Pseudotsuga, Eucalyptus, Populus, andSalix genera, for which both private companies and the National State through INTA, have developed high intensity genetic improvement programs. However, in the late 1990s, three complementary reasons gave impetus to the development of a domestication program at INTA: i) a certain social consensus (first international and finally national) on the importance of conserving and restoring natural forest ecosystems, ii) sympathy for native species per se, and iii) the baseline information that had been generated in previous years on the genetic resources of native forest species. Initial efforts were unstructured and responded to different projects with varying objectives, but finally a formal program started in 2006. In addition to INTA´s initiative to domesticate potentially productive native species using low-intensity breeding strategies (see Marcó and Llavallol 2016), efforts were also made by other institutions that had also started studying the genetic resources of forest species in Argentina. These actions make up the Argentine experience in the matter, at times systematic and well structured, and sometimes dispersed and with a varied level of depth. It is the intention of this book to summarize the most relevant experiences, trying to make visible the effort of many technicians and researchers who have managed to chart a path that, despite the years, has only just begun. The book is organized through the main forest ecosystems in Argentina. In each one, the advances referred to the knowledge of the genetic resources of the most studied species are presented, together with the implementation of actions for their domestication and genetic improvement. The most prominent results are reported, avoiding accounting for failures or low impact results. Towards the end of the book, we present the latest advances in the development of tools by means of high-throughput sequencing in native species of Argentina that will be the basis of the next technological generation for their genetic improvement. Finally, we conclude with essential considerations inherent in the planting of native species in the frame of climate change. We are addressing a wide and international public that seeks to know what has been achieved and what is being worked on in Argentina with respect to its native forest genetic resources. The interested reader should look for the most scientific details in the articles of the extensive list of bibliographic citations.