Abstract
The 35th biennial Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference (SFTIC) was held on the 4th and 5th day of June 2019, in Lexington, KY, USA. The theme of the conference was “Genetics and improvement of forest health and productivity”. Plenary speakers detailed significant progress in understanding forest tree genomes, identifying candidate genes for disease resistance and tree architecture traits and utilizing both genomic selection and genetic modification to advance forest health and productivity. Concurrent and general technical sessions provided additional evidence of progress in these areas as well as information on seed zone development for the eastern USA and species prioritization for conservation and restoration programs, in addition to advanced genome-assisted selection and breeding methods and programs in species of commercial interest including pines and eucalyptus. An interactive poster session provided each poster presenter an opportunity to speak in front of a general session audience and to take Q&A in a traditional poster session format. Pre-conference workshops and a post-conference field tour rounded out the 35th SFTIC with 88 registered for the conference, more than 60 participating in workshops and 33 attending the field tour. The conference program and proceedings are accessible through the SFTIC web site at http://www.sftic.org.
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Reference
Nelson CD, Rousseau RJ, Adams JP, Yuceer MC (2012) Report on the 31st Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference (SFTIC). Tree Genet. Genomes 8:439–441
Acknowledgements
We thank our session moderators (Tyler Dreaden, Gary Hodge, Carolyn Pike, Kevin Potter, Tania Quesada, JPA, CC, JMD, SAM, GFP), interactive poster session organizer (LD), poster and speaker award judging panels and the local organizing team (Reneé Williams, Leslie Queary, Briana Fortunato). We also thank pre- and post-conference workshop, meeting and field tour organizers Fikret Isik (North American Quantitative Forest Genetics Workshop), Carolyn Pike (Tree Breeding 101), CDN and Jennifer Koch (state forestry agency tree improvement discussion group), Kathleen McKeever (Resistance Screening Center steering committee), and John Lhotka, Clint Patterson, Seth DeBolt and Jason Nally (white oak research and industry field tour). Finally, we especially thank the sponsors of the 35th SFTIC—ArborGen, Rayonier, Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program (Texas Forest Service), Camcore (North Carolina State University), NC State University Cooperative Tree Improvement Program, and University of Kentucky’s Forest Health Research and Education Center, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
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Communicated by S. C. González-Martínez
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Footnote: CDN, EMR, JPA, BSC, GFP and Jeffrey W. Stringer served as the Organizing Committee for the 35th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference.
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Nelson, C.D., Crocker, E.V., DeWald, L. et al. Report on the Thirty-Fifth Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference (SFTIC 2019). Tree Genetics & Genomes 16, 31 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-1423-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-1423-9