Populus Species (Poplars): In Vitro Culture and the Production of Anthocyanins
Populus species are among the fastest-growing forest tree species and are distributed throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Because of their fast growth and the ease of propagation, they have been considered ideal species for pulpwoods
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CH0I 2 ,
and S.H. SON 2
1 General Account Populus species are among the fastest-growing forest tree species and are distributed throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Because of their fast growth and the ease of propagation, they have been considered ideal species for pulpwoods and lumber production (Hall 1982). Particularly hybrid poplars have been studied for use in short rotation and biomass production. Hybrid poplar, Populus alba L. x P. glandulosa Uyeki, has been extensively planted in Korea since it was artificially bred by the Institute of Forest Genetics ofKorea in 1956. The superior traits such as drought resistance and faster growth than its parents made the hybrid a promising candidate for lumber production in short rotation in mountainous areas. However, its practical use has been restricted to making chopsticks, match splints, and boxes rather than pulpwoods due to its short fiber length. Another valuable feature ofthe hybrid is its biomass production capacity. Recently, there has been great interest in biomass production using fast-growing tree species. P. alba x P. glandulosa can be one of the candidates because it has good coppicing and sucker-producing ability. Populus species, especially hybrids, are highly amenable to tissue culture, cell culture, and genetic manipulation techniques, which makes them a model tree species for in vitro manipulation (Douglas 1989). Many of the advantages of vegetative propagation for poplars have been known for a long time. U sing conventional methods of root suckers, grafting, and stern cuttings, poplars are reproduced clonally in large numbers for practical cultivation in many countries. Silviculturally, stern cuttings are used for propagating clones not only in the nursery but also in the field, where unrooted cuttings are preferred over rooted cutting as an inexpensive and easy to handle planting stock. The poor rooting ability of poplars such as aspens is a major obstacle to propagating genetically improved stock. Some poplars, which show variable or poor rooting from cuttings can be improved by crossing with a related species that shows better rooting. Therefore, in recent years new ways for solving these problems have been
1 Laboratory of Forest Genetics, Department of Forestry, Kyungpook National University, Taegu 702-701, Republic ofKorea 2 Laboratory of Biotechnology, Forest Genetics Research Institute, Forestry Administration, P.O. Box 24, Suwon 441-350, Republic ofKorea
Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Vol. 37 Medicinal and Aromatic Plants IX (ed. by Y.P.S. Bajaj) © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1996
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Y.G. Park et al.
attempted by the use of in vitro techniques. Also, extensive management methods using natural regeneration by root suckers, with a rotation period of 40 to 60 years, are possible on soils with good water and nutrient supply. Poplars are usually susceptible to diseases, insects, and other types of biotic and abiotic damage. Therefore, resistance to pests, especially to diseases, is aprerequisite to