Review of the Performance and Suitability of Pinus caribaea in Vietnam potx

Review of the Performance and Suitability of Pinus caribaea in
Vietnam

Mark J. Dieters
1
, Ha Huy Thinh
2
,

Phan Thanh Huong
2
, and Huynh Duc Nhan
3


October 2006

Report prepared for CARD project 033/05VIE: Field evaluation and advanced vegetative
mass-propagation technology for scaling up high-value plantations of Pinus caribaea and
related hybrids in Vietnam. (Project Output 1.1)

Summary

Pinus caribaea was first planted in Vietnam in 1963. Since that time, this species has been
evaluated on potential sites throughout Vietnam. As part of CARD project 033/05VIE, many
of the trials involving P. caribaea were inspected and relevant trials were remeasured in
early 2006. This report summarizes the performance of P. caribaea in trials established since
1976 by the Forest Research Centre in Phu Tho and the Research Centre for Forest Tree
Improvement in Hanoi.

Summary data collated from various sources and newly collected data were analysed in a

manner which would allow direct comparison to previous trial results. Data up to 25 years
after planting are presented from a total of 17 trials, planted on sites in the four major bio-
geographic regions of Vietnam that are most promising for the establishment pine
plantations – northern, central, central highlands, and southern Vietnam. These trial results
clearly demonstrate the superior growth capacity of P. caribaea over P. kesiya, P. merkusii
and P. massoniana.

P. caribaea var. hondurensis (PCH) demonstrated great adaptability to a wide range of sites
from northern to southern Vietnam, with relatively little provenance variation observed
amongst those provenances evaluated. However, it appears that the provenances of var.
hondurensis tested in Vietnam are likely to have been selected based on results in
international provenance trials; all tested provenances ranked well in the Oxford and/or
CAMCORE series of provenance trials. Only a limited sample of P. caribaea derived from
the Bahamas (i.e. P. caribaea var. bahamensis, P
CB) was evaluated; however, in trials
located in northern Vietnam, growth of P
CB was consistently good in comparison to PCH or
other species. Further, this variety is also likely to provide enhanced stem form and greater
resistance to some insect pests than PCH. Performance of the third variety (P. caribaea var.
caribaea, PCC from Cuba) was poor compared to PCH and local pine species. It is
recommended that future breeding and tree improvement activities should focus on PCH and
PCB for northern Vietnam, and PCH for central and southern Vietnam. Development and
testing of pine hybrids is likely to be difficult, and so should only form a secondary research
priority.

1
School of Land and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Queensland 4072, Australia.
2
Research Centre for Forest Tree Improvement, Forest Science Institute of Vietnam, Dong Ngac, Tu Liem,
Hanoi.

3
Forest Research Centre, Phu Ninh, Phu Tho, Vietnam.

1
Background

Pinus caribaea Morelet, especially P. caribaea Morlet var. hondurensis (Sénéclauze) W.H.
Barrett & Golfari (PCH) has demonstrated fast growth and adaptability to a wide range of
sites across the tropics and sub-tropics (Gibson 1982, Birks and Barnes 1990, Dvorak et al.
2000). The other two taxonomic varieties of P. caribaea (i.e. var. bahamensis (PCB) and var.
caribaea (PCC)) have also shown potential in commercial plantations in some parts of the
world with both of these varieties exhibiting greater tolerance to some insect pests (Baylis
and Barnes 1989, Kha et al. 1989) and greater resistance to wind-damage than the Central
American (PCH) variety (Birks and Barnes 1990, Dieters and Nikles 2001). Further, PCB has
demonstrated greater tolerance to cold temperatures than either PCC or PCH (Nikles 1966 p.
103, Duncan et al. 1996), which is rather surprising given its natural distribution at low
elevation across the Bahama and Caicos Islands. PCH has been used the most extensively for
establishment of plantations with large areas planted in Venezuela and Queensland Australia,
while significant areas have been planted with PCC in southern regions of China (Dieters &
Nikles 1997).

P. caribaea was first planted in Vietnam at Da Lat in 1963 (Kha 2003, p.181) with a view to
exploring the potential of this species in commercial plantations as an alternative to native
conifers such as P. merkusii and P. kesiya. The early plantings clearly demonstrated the
excellent potential of P. caribaea in Vietnam leading to the establishment of a network of
trials from 1976 to the early 1980s in order to provide a more detailed evaluation of the
performance of P. caribaea, and to investigate provenance variation. Of the Pinus species
tested in Vietnam, Pinus caribaea has demonstrated superiority in both adaptability and
growth rate, and having better stem form and branching characteristics than P. kesiya, P.
massoniana or P. merkusii (Le Dinh Kha pers. comm.) and is regarded as one of the most

promising Pinus species for forest planting in Vietnam (Kha et al. 2002). Because of its
adaptability, excellent growth and stem form, P. caribaea is expected to provide a viable
alternative plantation species to Acacia and Eucalyptus on the degraded hills and low-
fertility sites of Vietnam, producing long-fibre pulp for paper manufacture as well as high-
quality sawn timber for construction and furniture production. A more recent series of trials
was established in the early part of this century to investigate impacts of intensive
management on the productivity of P. caribaea in an attempt to optimize its performance in
plantations.

This report summarizes results from all relevant trials involving P. caribaea established
since 1976 across the four major biogeographic regions of Vietnam (northern areas of
Vietnam from Hanoi, extending to the border with China; low elevation sites in Central
Vietnam; the Central Highlands of Vietnam; and low elevation regions of southern Vietnam
in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City) on site-types believed to be suitable for pine plantations
(Table 1; Figure 1). Summary data is presented from trials established by the Forestry
Research Centre (FRC)
4
at Phu Ninh and the Research Centre for Forest Tree Improvement
(RCFTI)
5
based in Hanoi.

This report aims to: summarize all available (relevant) information on the performance of P.
caribaea in Vietnam; make recommendations regarding the potential suitability of P.
caribaea varieties in each of the major bio-geographic regions of Vietnam; and identify
potential hybrid combinations that may prove successful in Vietnam.


4
Trials planted on four sites in the northern region of Vietnam in 1976.

5
Forest Science Institute of Vietnam (FSIV) in Hanoi, and partner organizations in other districts of Vietnam

2

Table 1: Region and location details of P. caribaea trials established in Vietnam.

Location Province Latitude Longitude Elevation
(m)
Rainfall
(mm)
Region
Thai Long Tuyen Quang 21° 45'N 105° 14'E 60-90 1600 North
Yen Kien Phu Tho 21° 35'N 105° 12'E 60-80 1600 North
Son Nam Tuyen Quang 21° 33'N 105° 27'E 60-120 1600 North
Den Hung Phu Tho 21° 22'N 105° 20'E 50 1600 North
Dai Lai Vinh Phuc 21° 10'N 105° 17'E 50 1500 North
Ba Vi Ha Tay 21° 07'N 105° 26'E 50 1680 North
Dong Ha Quang Tri 16° 50'N 107° 05'E 50 2370 Central
Pleiku Gia Lai 13° 59'N 108° 00'E 800 2270 Central Highlands
Da Lat Lam Dong 11° 57'N 108° 26'E 1500 1730 Central Highlands
Lang Hanh Lam Dong 11° 57'N 108° 26'E 960 1730 Central Highlands
Song May Dong Nai 11° 15'N 107° 06'E 40-60 1640
South-east (near
HCM City)
Note: Elevation figures are approximate.


Figure 1: Location of trials evaluating the performance of P. caribaea in Vietnam.

3

4
Trials of Caribbean Pine in Vietnam

Summary data (site means) are presented for a total of 17 trials established between 1976
and 2001 (Table 2). Summary data were collated from existing trials of P. caribaea, many of
the trials were inspected by project staff from both Queensland and Vietnam, and additional
data were collected from: a) some of the older trials that were regarded as still being viable
experiments in order to provide later-rotation data for this review; and, b) relevant
species/provenance/management trials established since 2000 (Table 2).

For consistency with previous analyses, all data collected in 2006 were analysed on a plot
mean basis, and tree volumes were estimated using the following formulae:

fht
dbh
Vol ××
⎟
⎠
⎞
⎜
⎝
⎛
=
2
2
π
,

Where diameter at breast height (dbh) and total tree height (ht) are both in decimetres, and a
form factor (f) was taken to be 0.5. Based on experience in Queensland, it is likely that use
of this generic volume equation will over-estimate the true volume. Consequently, volume
data presented should be treated with caution. However, as all previous analyses had used
this form factor, 0.5 was retained to allow comparisons amongst trials. Individual tree
volumes were summed within each plot, and divided by plot area and age to estimate mean
annual increments expressed in m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
.

The older trials (i.e. those established before 1985) typically included other pine species such
as P. kesiya, P. merkusii and P. massoniana for comparison (Table 2). At that time these
species had been used the most extensively for plantation establishment in Vietnam – P.
massoniana in northern Vietnam, and P. kesiya and P. merkusii in central and southern
Vietnam. Results of these species comparisons have been previously reported by a number
of authors (e.g. Ståhl 1988, Dien 1989 and Kha 2003, p. 182) and the universal conclusion
was that P. caribaea is faster growing than alternative Pinus species across a range of sites
in Vietnam. For example, Dien (1989, p. 64) concludes that “Pinus caribaea grew faster than
other species on all sites”. Consequently, data on the performance of other species in the
early trials (1976) planted by FRC have not been included here – full details on the
performance of all species in these trials are presented in Ståhl’s (1988) comprehensive
report. This report will focus on the relative performance of the three varieties of P. caribaea
and provenance variation within this species.

5
Table 2: Listing of all trials used to review the performance of P. caribaea in Vietnam.

Last Measure
No. Region Location Trial Type Species/Taxa
Year
Planted
No.
Entries
Trees
per Plot
No.
Reps.
Spacing
(r×t, m)
Date Age (yrs)
1 North Den Hung - Phu Tho Species/Provenance trial
PCH, PMERK, POOC,
PKES
1976 7 49 5 3×3 1984 8
2 North Son Nam-Tuyen Quang Species/Provenance trial
PCH, PMERK, POOC,
PKES 1976 6 49 5 3×3 2002 25
3 North Thai Long- Tuyen Quang Species/Provenance trial
P
CH, PMERK, POOC,
PKES 1976 6 49 5 3×3 — —
4 North Yen Kien - Phu Tho Species/Provenance trial
PCH, PMERK, POOC,

PKES
1976 6 49 5 3×3 1984 8
5 Central Dong Ha - Quang Tri Species/Provenance trial PMERK, PCC, PEE 1980 5 4 Mar-00 19.3
6 North Dai Lai - Vinh Phuc Species/Provenance trial
PCH, PCC, PMASS,
PMERK, POOC, PEE
1981 12 49 4 3×2 Mar-00 19.1
7 North Dai Lai - Vinh Phuc Species/Provenance trial PCH, PCC, POOC, PEE 1982 9 36 4 3×2 Jan-00 17.8
8 Central Dong Ha - Quang Tri Species trial PCH, PMERK 1984 2 1 Mar-00 15.7
9 South-East Song May - Dong Nai Provenance trial P
CH 1987 7 49 7 3×2 Apr-06 18.8
10 North Dai Lai - Vinh Phuc Provenance trial P
CH 1987 7 36 5 3×2 Jan-00 12.4
11 Central Dong Ha - Quang Tri Provenance trial P
CH 1988 6 3 Mar-00 11.4
12
Central
Highlands
Pleiku - Gia Lai Provenance trial PCH, PCB, PCC 1990 11 49 4 3×2 May-06 16
13 North Xuan Khanh - Ha Tay Provenance trial P
CH, PCB, PCC 1990 10 49 3 3×2 Mar-00 9.5
14
Central
Highlands
Lang Hanh - Lam Dong Provenance trial PCH, PCC 1991 7 25 4 3×2 Mar-00 8.7
15 North Cam Quy - Ha Tay Taxa comparison trial
P
CB, PCC, PCH, PEE,
PEE × PCH F
2

1996 5 36 4 3×3 Sept-06 10.4
16 North Cam Quy - Ha Tay Intensive management P
CB, PCH × fertilizer 2000 3 15 4 3×3 Apr-06 5.8
17
Central
Highlands
Lang Hanh – Lam Dong Species/Provenance trial P
CC, PCH, PEE 2001 6 30 4 3×2 May-06 4.8
18
Central
Highlands
Lang Hanh, - Lam Dong) Intensive management P
CC, PCH × fertilizer 2001 3 30 3 3×2 May-06 4.8
Species/Taxa: PCB = P. caribaea var. bahamensis, PCC = P. caribaea var. caribaea, PCH = P. caribaea var. hondurensis, PEE = P. elliottii, PKES = P. kesiya, PMASS =
P. massoniana, P
MERK = P. merkusii, POOC = P. oocarpa.
Growth and Survival

The results presented here are a compilation of summary data from trials established over a
25 year period across the length of Vietnam, established for a range of purposes. The earlier
trials aimed to evaluate the performance of P. caribaea in comparison to the local pine
species (P. kesiya, P. merkusii, and P. massoniana). The focus of the trials then moved to
evaluation of provenance variation within P. caribaea, and finally investigation of the
growth potential of P. caribaea through fertilizer application. Due to the long period over
which the trials were established, the results are potentially confounded by the low survival
(often less than 50%) in many trials that resulted from a combination of effects including:
illegal harvesting, fire damage, and possibly inadequate establishment silviculture. The
differential stocking levels both within and between trials are likely to bias evaluations of
diameter and volume production of the taxa at later ages, consequently height data may be
the most reliable trait for taxa comparisons. Further, no reliable volume equations are

available to compare volume differences between species, or between varieties of P.
caribaea in Vietnam, therefore differences in stem taper and bark thickness will alter
rankings of species and taxa. In the absence of a reliable volume equation for P. caribaea in
Vietnam, productivity estimates should only be regarded as approximate.
Forest Research Centre (FRC, Phu Ninh) Trials Established 1976:
Four trials were established by FRC in 1976 in northern Vietnam (Table 2, Trials 1 – 4) to
assess species differences and provenance variation within species. The trials included all
three varieties of P. caribaea (4 provenances of P
CH, and 1 each of both PCB and PCC, Table
3;
however, a fifth provenance of PCH (Alimicamba) was also included at one site but no
data are presented for this provenance). The trial planted at Thai Long was damaged by fire
in 1977 when the trial was less than 2 years of age, resulting in significant mortality,
therefore no results are presented for this site. Summary data are presented for the three
remaining sites at 8 years of age (Table 4), and the Son Nam site at 25 years of age (Table
5).

Table 3: Provenances of P. caribaea tested in Forest Research Centre trials.
Code Provenance Longitude Latitude Altitude (m)
202 Poptún, Penten, Guatemala
(var. hondurensis)
16°22' N
89°25' W 500
203 Guanaja Island, Honduras (var.
hondurensis)
16°27' N 85°54' W 75
204 Andros Island, Bahamas
(var. bahamensis)
24°30' N 78°20' W 3
205 Cajalbana, Cuba

(var. caribaea)
20°30' N 81°31' W 150
206 Mountain Pine Ridge, Belize
(var. hondurensis)
17°00' N 88°55' W 400
207 Poptún, Penten, Guatemala
(var. hondurensis)
16°15' N 89°30' W 250

The results indicate that as a species, P. caribaea is capable of reasonable growth rates in the
northern region of Vietnam, with the best provenance (Mountain Pine Ridge, 206) averaging
nearly 20m in height at 25 years of age on the Son Nam site. Results observed here indicate
relatively little variation in growth rates between the provenances of P
CH, but PCC (205)
grew rather slowly compared to either P
CB or PCH, and does not appear suited to sites in
northern Vietnam. By contrast P
CB had the fastest height growth to 8 years of age (Table 4)
and was second only to the Mountain Pine Ridge provenance of
PCH at 25 years of age

6
(Table 5). Of the P
CH provenances tested, the upland sources from Poptún and Mountain
Pine Ridge appear to be better than the Guanaja source.


Table 4: Mean height and tree volume of P. caribaea at 8 years (1984) of age in FRC trials
(Trials 1 – 4, refer Table 2).
Den Hung Son Nam Yen Kien

Code
Height (m)
Volume
(dm
3
/tree) Height (m)
Volume
(dm
3
/tree) Height (m)
Volume
(dm
3
/tree)
202 6.1 66 8.6 207 8.9 201
203 5.4 56 8.2 188 9.1 164
204 6.9 65 9.4 184 9.6 213
205 6.5 65 6.4 112 9.0 173
206 5.9 56 8.7 216 9.2 200
207 6.1 68 8.5 206 9.0 193
LSD — — 1.16 47.6 0.75 41.7
Note: Entry 204 = PCB, 205 = PCC, all other entries are PCH.


Table 5: Mean growth and survival of P. caribaea at 25 years of age (2002)
at Son Nam site in FRC trials (Trial 2, refer Table 2).
Code
Diameter
(cm)
Height

(m)
Volume
(dm
3
/tree)
Volume
(m
3
/ha)
Survival
(tree/ha)
202 26.5 18.3 505 382 755
203 27.5 17.8 489 245 489
204 24.7 18.5 511 216 511
205 25.5 15.8 422 163 422
206 28.7 19.7 522 323 522
207 27.3 19.5 455 258 455
Note: Entry 204 = PCB, 205 = PCC, all other entries are PCH.

In Ståhl’s (1988) report, he highlights a further complication that is not reflected in the data
presented above – “a large difference in the form and tapering between mainly the Bahamas
and the var. hondurensis provenances. The Cuban variety is intermediate.” Generally P
CB is
much straighter with less taper than P
CH both in these trials (as reported by Ståhl, 1988), in
Queensland and in other parts of the world. It is also likely that P
CB has thinner bark than
P
CH. When taken together (better stem form, less taper and thinner bark) it is likely that PCB
may produce greater utilizable volume than P

CH when grown in the northern region of
Vietnam. Further, the known superior insect and frost tolerance of P
CB may also provide
additional benefits over P
CH on some sites in the northern region of Vietnam.


7
Species and Provenance within Species Trials Established 1980 – 1984:

In the early 1980s four species trials and provenance within species trials were established
by RCFTI and its partners – two trials in northern Vietnam at Dai Lai and two in central
Vietnam at Dong Ha (Table 2, Trials 5 – 8).

In the two trials established at Dong Ha in central Vietnam, even though the first trial was
unreplicated, P. elliottii growth rates were approximately half that of P. merkusii (Table 6) at
19 years of age. In central Vietnam P. elliottii is well south of its natural latitudinal range,
and appears to be poorly adapted to sites in central Vietnam. This unreplicated trial at Dong
Ha only includes the slower growing Cuban variety (P
CC) of P. caribaea, which did not
perform as well as the best provenances of P. merkusii on this site. In the second trial at
Dong Ha (Table 7) only P
CH and P. merkusii are included, with PCH showing greater height
and volume than P. merkusii but smaller diameter to 15 years of age. A similar trend was
also observed in the earlier unreplicated trial (Table 6) where P
CC was taller than the best
provenance of P. merkusii but with reduced diameter.

Table 6: Mean growth at 19 years of age, in species/provenance trial established at Dong Ha
in 1980 (Trial 5, refer Table 2).

Species Provenance/Source
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
P. merkusii Thua Thien Hue 20.8 9.9 167.4
P. merkusii Bo Trạch – Quang Binh 20.3 9.3 149.6
P. merkusii Bac Thai 19.9 8.9 138.0
P. caribaea var. caribaea Cuba 17.7 11.4 139.6
P. merkusii Da Lat – Lam Dong 14.5 6.8 64.5
P. merkusii Ha Trung - Thanh Hoa 15.1 9.3 83.2
P. elliottii USA 9.5 5.6 19.8
Note: This trial only contained a single replicate of each species/provenance.

In the first of the two trials established at Dai Lai in northern Vietnam, the Honduras
provenance of P
CH was clearly superior in height to all other species; however, overall
survival is poor (Table 8). P. massonianna was generally second to P
CH, followed by P.
oocarpa
6
and PCC. Here P. elliottii performs better than at Dong Ha (Table 6), but is still
clearly inferior to P
CH, PCC and P. massoniana. The native conifer (P. merkusii) did not
perform well in comparison to P. caribaea or P. massoniana at Dai Lai, with substantially
less height growth (Table 8).

The final trial of this set of four experiments does not include any of the local pine species –
only species from the Americas (Table 9). Again the Honduras source of P
CH is superior in
height growth to the other provenances of P
CH, and PCH is similar to P. oocarpa in growth
rates, but clearly superior to both P
CC and P. elliottii.

These results suggest that P
CH is likely to be superior in both height and diameter growth to
both P. merkusii and P. massoniana in northern Vietnam, and superior in height growth to P.
merkusii in central Vietnam. P
CC was inferior in growth rates to the local pine species and
P
CH on sites in both central and northern Vietnam. P. elliottii was poorly adapted to sites in
central Vietnam.


6
Possibly P. tecunumanii – P. tecunumanii was not separated taxonomically from P. oocarpa until after this
trial was established.

8


Table 7: Mean growth at 15.6 years of age, in species trial established at Dong Ha in 1984.
(Trial 8, refer Table 2).
Species
Diameter

(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
P. caribaea var. hondurensis

19.1 14.1 201.7
P. merkusii

21.3 10.1 180.0


Table 8: Mean growth and survival at 19 years of age, in species/provenance trial established
at Dai Lai in 1981 (Trial 6, refer Table 2).
Species Source/Origin
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
P. caribaea var. hondurensis Honduras 26.5 18.2 516.5 29
P. massoniana Tam Dao 25.6 16.4 436.5 20

P. oocarpa Mexico 25.5 16.6 431.5 24
P. massoniana China 23.9 16.2 368.5 21
P. massoniana
Yen Lap -
Quang Ninh
22.8 16.3 344.5 29
P. caribaea var. caribaea Cuba 22.4 16.5 350.5 24
P. massoniana
Loc Binh -
Lang Son
22.2 16.7 342.0 27
P. merkusii
Ha Trung –
Thanh Hoa
21.3 11.0 205.0 31
P. merkusii Hue 20.5 10.9 189.5 23
P. elliottii USA 20.2 14.4 252.0 22
P. merkusii Da Lat 18.4 9.7 148.0 14
Grand Means 22.7 14.8 23.8
Note: Results previously reported by Kha (2003, Table 7.6, p. 182)


Table 9: Mean growth and survival at 17.8 years of age, in species/provenance trial
established at Dai Lai in 1982 (Trial 7, refer Table 2).
Species Provenance/Source
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree

(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
P. caribaea var. hondurensis Honduras 16545 23.2 17.1 392 15
P. caribaea var. hondurensis Poptun 23.7 15.4 385 22
P. oocarpa Guatemala 14781 23.7 15.4 354 22
P. caribaea var. hondurensis Krâ 22.2 15.8 325 19
P. oocarpa Mexico 22.1 15.2 313 17
P. caribaea var. caribaea Cuba 20.3 14.9 247 25
P. caribaea var. caribaea Krâ 157619 19.9 14.6 233 26
P. elliottii PAM 19.8 14 202 17
P. elliottii USA16519 18.9 13.6 227 16
Grand Means 21.6 15.1 20.0


9
Provenance Trials of P. caribaea Established Between 1987 and 1991:
In the five year period from 1987 to 1991 RCFTI and its partners established six provenance
trials of P. caribaea: two in northern, one in central, one in south and two in the Central
Highlands region of Vietnam (Trials 9 – 14, Table 2). These trials differ from the earlier
trials by not testing any local pine species and including Queensland (Australia) and local
sources of P. caribaea as well as sources from the species natural range.

Results from these trials between 8.7 and 18.8 years of age (Tables 10 – 15, Figures 2 and 3)
indicate that there was relatively little variation between provenances of P
CH. There is
certainly no pattern to the observed growth performance of provenances in these trials – low-
elevation sources such as Alamicamba and Guanaja do not appear to perform consistently

better or worse that higher-elevation sources such and Poptun or Mountain Pine Ridge
(MPR). Nor does provenance origin appear to reflect adaptation to site types in Vietnam
(particularly low-elevation versus high elevation) with low-elevation sources of P
CH
performing well on high-elevation sites in the Central Highlands, and higher-elevation
sources performing well on low-elevation sites in northern and central regions of Vietnam.

Two of the trials (Tables 11 and 13) include all three varieties of P. caribaea. Relative
performance of these varieties differed in these two trials – the first in northern Vietnam at
Ha Tay, and the second in the Central Highlands at Pleiku. In northern Vietnam the mean
diameter of P
CB was similar to that of PCH but the best PCB provenances had much greater
height than the best P
CH provenances (Table 11). However, PCC performed poorly compared
to both P
CB and PCH on this site in northern Vietnam. In contrast, in the trial located at
Pleiku in the Central Highlands, P
CC was the fastest growing of all varieties tested (Table
13) with the largest mean diameter, while P
CB generally had the smallest mean diameter and
volume. This difference between the Ha Tay and Pleiku sites may reflect the differences in
age between the trials and differences in the growth curves of these varieties, or differences
in stocking. Alternatively, the observed differences may reflect true differences in the
adaptation of P. caribaea varieties to sites in Vietnam – suggesting that the bahamensis
variety is better adapted to northern regions, while the caribaea variety from Cuba is better
adapted to the Central Highlands. By contrast the hondurensis variety appeared to show
much greater adaptability than either P
CB or PCC, growing well across a wide latitudinal
range in Vietnam.

The improved sources of P. caribaea imported from Queensland that were included in these
trials have performed equal to or better than the natural sources of
PCH tested (Figures 2 and
3). The Queensland seedlots tested are probably derived from first generation clonal seed
orchards, largely composed of trees selected in the Mountain Pine Ridge (MPR) provenance
from Belize. In the first cycle of genetic improvement in Queensland most emphasis was
placed on improving the stem form of P. caribaea, and comparatively small gains were
made in growth rates (Nikles 1996). The results presented in these tables and graphs do not
reflect improvements in stem form, which were clearly evident when the trials at Pleiku and
Song May were remeasured for this report in early 2006. Nevertheless, it is clear that
material selected in Queensland, can and does perform well when planted across all site-
types in (northern, central, central highlands and southern) Vietnam.

The general performance of the three varieties of P. caribaea observed in these trials is
entirely consistent with results reported for international provenance trials, where P
CH
demonstrated much faster growth rates across a wide range of sites than either PCB or PCC,
but PCH had inferior stem straightness and generally less resistance to wind-damage (Birks
and Barnes 1990). However, the relatively small amount of provenance variation in P.

10
caribaea var. hondurensis found in this and the earlier series of trials contrasts with that
found in previous studies (e.g. Birks and Barnes 1990, Dvorak et al. 1993, Dvorak et al.
2000, Hodge and Dvorak 2001), where large differences were observed between
provenances of P
CH. The limited provenance variation observed in these Vietnamese trials of
P
CH, may result from the fact that these trials generally included only the faster growing
provenances – for example Birks and Barnes (1990) list Guanaja, Alamicamba and
Queensland as three of the top five provenances; Crockford et al. (1990) report Queensland,

Guanaja, Mountain Pine Ridge and Alamicamba as four of the top five provenances; and,
Dvorak et al. (2000, p. 28) list Limón, Queensland, Guanaja, Poptún and Alamicamba
amongst the fastest growing provenances. By contrast provenances which have previously
been reported as having very poor growth potential in international provenance trials (e.g.
Los Limones, Dvorak et al. 2000) were not included in provenance trials in Vietnam.

Table 10: Mean growth and survival at 12.4 years in P. caribaea provenance trial established
at Dai Lai (Vinh Phuc, northern VN) in 1987 (Trial 10, refer Table 2).
Provenance Location
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
Guanaja Honduras 19.3 13.4 224.5 23
Alamicamba Nicaragua 19.3 13.0 202.5 31
Poptún 1 Guatemala 18.6 13.0 186.5 31
Poptún 2 Guatemala 19.8 12.9 193.0 41
Poptún 3 Guatemala 19.9 13.6 248.0 32
Queensland (M.P.R) Belize 19.5 13.5 214.0 33
M.P.R Belize 19.3 13.1 197.5 47
Grand Means 19.28 13.2 23.8
Note: M.P.R. = Mountain Pine Ridge

Table 11: Mean growth and survival at 9.5 years of P. caribaea provenance trial established
in 1990 at Xuan Khanh (Ha Tay, northern VN – Trial 13, refer Table 2).
Variety Provenance
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
PCB Abaco CH 14.1 10.6 93.3 29
Abaco NC 13.3 10.5 76.7 41
Andros 13.4 9.1 70.1 40
P
CC Cuba 12.7 9.7 64.2 19.
PCH Limon, Honduras 14.5 8.8 79.5 11
Alamicamba, Honduras 12.4 8.8 57.9 49
Guanaja Is., Honduras 13.8 8.9 76.1 36
Poptun 2, Honduras 13.3 8.8 65.7 33
Cardwell (T473'O'), Queensland 13.7 8.8 71.4 29
Byfield (R482'CP'), Queensland 13.4 9.4 78.1 39
Grand Means 13.5 9.33 32.


11
Table 12: Mean growth and survival at 12.5 years in P. caribaea provenance trial established
in 1988 at Dong Ha (Quang Tri, central VN – Trial 11, refer Table 2).

Provenance
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
Poptun 1, Guatemala 17.7 7.4 98 61
Poptun 2, Guatemala 19.3 8.4 128 52.
Alamicamba, Nicaragua 17.8 7.8 103 645
Guanaja Is., Honduras 16.9 7.5 95 53
M.P.R., Belize 18.5 8.2 117 70
Queensland, Australia 18.3 7.9 110 71
Grand Mean 18.1 7.8 62

Table 13: Mean growth and survival at 16.0 years in P. caribaea provenance trial established
in 1990 at Pleiku (Gia Lai, Central Highlands – Trial 12, refer Table 2).
Provenance Code
Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)

Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
)
Survival
(%)
PCB, Abaco PCB 21.8 19.5 386.1 25.8 50
PCB, Andros PCB 20.4 17.7 304.5 24.1 56
PCC, Cuba P
CC 23.5 18.7 435.3 25.7 42
Alamicamba, Nicaragua ALA 22.2 18.7 381.9 29.3 56
Limon, Honduras LIM 21.4 17.7 345.1 21.8 46
Poptun, Guatemala POP 20.8 18.9 333.4 25.8 56
Byfield R482, Australia BYF 22.2 19.5 403.2 25.0 48
Cardwell T473, Australia CWD 21.3 19.0 359.3 26.4 56
Guanaja, Honduras GUA 22.6 16.7 359.7 18.9 37
Grand Means 21.8 18.5 367.6 24.7 50
SE of Means 1.2 0.6 49.9 3.2 6
Note: ALA, LIM, POP, BYF, CWD, and GUA are all P. caribaea var. hondurensis. BYF and CWD being
improved sources from Queensland, while all other sources originate from the natural range of the species.

A
L
A
BYF
C

W
D
GU
A
L
IM
PCB_Aba
c
o
PCB_Andros
PCC
POP
Volume
0
100
200
300
400
500
Mean Volume (dm
3
/tree)
MAI (m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
x 10)

Figure 2: Performance of P. caribaea provenances at 16.0 years established at Pleiku (Gai
Lai, Central Highlands). Provenance codes as described in Table 13.

12
Table 14: Mean growth and survival at 8.7 years of a P. caribaea provenance trial
established in 1991 at Lang Hanh (Lam Dong, Central Highlands – Trial 14, refer Table 2).
Provenance
Diameter
(cm)
Ht
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Survival
(%)
Cuba (PCC) 16.4 11.9 147 71
Alamicamba, Nicaragua 15.7 10.9 118 66
Limone, Honduras 16.6 11.0 135 61
Poptun, Guatemala 16.6 12.1 144 81
Guanaja Is., Honduras 15.0 9.8 113 9
Byfield (R482), Australia 20.8 13.3 232 25
Cardwell (T473), Australia 19.8 13.1 209 74
Grand Means 17.4 11.7 55.3


Table 15: Mean growth and survival at 18.8 years of P. caribaea provenances, established in
1987 at Song Mai (Dong Nai, south-east VN – Trial 9, refer Table 2).
Provenance Code

Diameter
(cm)
Height
(m)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
)
Survival
(%)
Alamicamba, Nicaragua ALA 26.5 21.5 646.2 30.4 43
Guanaja Is. Honduras GUA 28.3 21.0 713.4 27.8 30
Poptun 1, Guatemala POP1 28.6 19.5 712.1 22.7 27
Poptun 2, Guatemala POP2 27.1 20.4 647.6 27.6 37
Poptun 3, Guatemala POP3 28.5 19.8 688.5 21.0 26
M.P.R., Belize MPR 26.7 20.1 607.2 19.6 28
Queensland QLD 29.0 21.1 765.7 27.4 31
Grand Means 27.8 20.5 681.7 25.0 32
SE of LS Means 1.1 0.7 62.1 2.7 5

Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis Provenance
ALA GUA MPR POP1 POP2 POP3 QLD

Volume
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Mean Volume (dm
3
/tree)
MAI (m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
x 10)


Figure 3: Performance of P. caribaea provenances at 18.8 years established at Song May
(Dong Nai, south-east Vietnam). Provenance codes as described in Table 15.

13
Trials of P. caribaea established in Vietnam from 1996 to present:
Over the last 10 years a number of trials of P. caribaea have been established by RCFTI in
Vietnam – including taxa comparison, intensive management, and progeny trials. However,
for the purposes of this review, we have chosen only those trials that include P. caribaea var.
hondurensis and at least one other species or taxa. Trials established during this period
focused more strongly on P. caribaea var. hondurensis than earlier trials, included
Vietnamese sources of P. caribaea and examined the potential of some hybrid combinations

involving P
CH. The first of these trials was planted in 1996 at Ha Tay in northern Vietnam
primarily to evaluate the performance of the Queensland-bred F
2
hybrid between PCH and P.
elliottii. This hybrid has performed well compared to both parental species in many parts of
the sub-tropics world-wide, including southern China. Ten-year data (Table 16) suggests that
this hybrid was superior to P
EE, similar to PCH, but inferior to PCB in both height, diameter
and volume development. However, in this test, taxa differences were only significant for
height and mean annual increment. The good performance of P
CB compared to both PCH,
PCC and P. elliottii on this site in northern Vietnam, is similar to that previously observed in
other trials located in this region of Vietnam (Tables 4, 5 and 11).

The excellent potential of the Bahamas variety (P
CB) is further demonstrated by excellent
early growth of this variety compared to both local Vietmanese (Dai Lai) and Queensland
sources of P
CH, in an intensive management trial planted at Cam Quy (Table 17). This trial
investigated the effects of different rates of phosphorus fertilizer (with/without additional
NPK). The analysis of variance indicated significant interactions between the fertilizer
treatments and the three taxa evaluated in this trial; growth rates were maximized for each
taxa under a different fertilizer regime (indicated in
bold italics in Table 17). Nevertheless,
P
CB had the highest maximum growth rates (Figure 4), and the highest average growth rates
across all fertilizer treatments. Further, growth of P
CB maximized at lower fertilizer
application rates than did P

CH – 150g P205 per tree, compared 450g/tree in case of Dai Lai
P
CH, and 200g/tree of P205 + 200g/tree of NPK for Queensland PCH. This suggests that PCB
is able to obtain higher growth rates than P
CH in northern Vietnam with lower fertilizer
inputs.

Table 16: Mean growth and survival at 10.3 years in taxa comparison trial established in
1996 at Cam Quy (Ha Tay, northern Vietnam – Trial 15, refer Table 2). Seeds of all taxa
were obtained from Queensland. (Table 7.8 from Kha 2003).
Species / Taxa
Height
(m)
Diameter
(cm)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
)
Survival
(%)
PEE × PCH F

2
Hyrbrid 8.70 14.68 82.37 7.63 86
P. caribaea var. bahamensis (PCB) 9.24 15.21 89.79 8.41 87
P. caribaea var. caribaea (P
CC) 8.10 13.34 62.63 6.00 89
P. caribaea var. hondurensis (P
CH) 8.62 14.83 82.13 5.54 71
P. elliottii (P
EE) 8.25 14.58 74.96 6.03 79
SE of LS Means 0.25 0.76 9.41 0.77 09
Grand Means 8.58 14.52 78.38 6.76 82





14
Table 17: Mean growth and survival at 5.8 years of age in P. caribaea fertilizer trial planted
in 2000 at Cam Quy, Ha Tay (northern Vietnam; Trial 16 – refer Table 2).
Taxa
Fert.
Tmt.
Height
(m)
Diameter
(cm)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)

Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
)
Survival
(%)
1 4.7 6.9 12.5 2.1 83
2 6.5 10.1 27.5 4.5 85
3 6.2 9.7 24.6 3.9 82
4 5.8 9.0 19.5 3.1 80
5 6.0 8.8 21.1 3.9 97
6 6.3 9.4 24.8 4.6 97
7 6.3 9.4 23.6 4.2 92

P. caribaea var.
bahamensis (ex.
Queensland)
8 6.2 9.2 23.8 4.2 92
Means
6.0 9.0 22.2 3.8 88
1 5.1 8.8 17.5 2.2 67
2 4.8 7.2 12.7 1.8 65
3 5.0 8.5 17.6 2.8 85
4 5.4 8.7 20.8 2.8 68
5 4.6 7.9 13.5 1.4 42
6 4.7 8.2 14.4 2.1 77

7 4.9 8.1 15.3 2.3 75

P.caribaea var.
hondurensis (ex. Dai
Lai)
8 4.3 6.8 10.5 1.4 70
Means
4.8 8.0 15.3 2.1 69
1 4.6 6.9 12.4 1.5 62
2 4.8 8.1 16.1 1.8 60
3 4.8 8.5 15.8 2.2 73
4 4.6 7.6 13.3 1.7 68
5 4.9 9.0 19.7 2.0 53
6 4.9 7.5 14.5 1.6 52
7 5.4 9.0 20.5 2.4 60

P. caribaea var.
hondurensis (ex.
Queensland)
8 5.4 8.7 19.2 1.8 53
Means
4.9 8.2 16.4 1.9 60
Grand Means 5.3 8.4 18.0 2.6 72
SE of LS Means 0.3 0.5 2.5 0.4 8
Note: Fertilizer × taxa interactions significant (p < 0.05) for diameter, height and volume/tree.
Fertilizer treatments: nil, P
2
O
5
150g, P

2
O
5
300g, P
2
O
5
450g, P
2
O
5
200g + 0 NPK, P
2
O
5
200g +50g NPK, P
2
O
5

200g +100g NPK, P
2
O
5
200g +150g NPK for treatments 1, 2, … , 8 respectively.

Fertilizer Treatment
0246810
Mean Volume (dm
3

/tree)
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
PCB
PCH 1160
PCH Dai Lai


Figure 4: Mean growth at 5.8 years of age in P. caribaea fertilizer trial
at Cam Quy (refer Table 17).



15
The final two trials to be considered were planted adjacent to one another on a site at Lang
Hanh, Lam Dong Province. The first trial compared P
CH, PCC, the F
2
hybrid between P.
elliottii (P

EE) and PCH, and P. elliottii. The second trial compared the performance of PCC
and P
CH under three different fertilizer regimes. Considered together, these two trials clearly
demonstrate the superiority of P
CH over PCC on sites in the Central Highlands of Vietnam –
to 5 years of age P
CC performed very poorly compared to PCH (Tables 18 and 19). Again P.
elliottii is showing poor adaptation to sites in the Central Highlands. The hybrid between P.
elliottii
and PCH grew poorly compared to PCH on this high elevation site in Central Vietnam.
It appears that like P. elliottii this hybrid combination with P. elliottii is poorly adapted to
low latitudes of central Vietnam.

There were only relatively small differences in the growth of the Vietnam and Queensland
sources of P
CC and PCH evaluated in the Cam Quy (Table 17) and Lang Hanh (Tables 18 and
19) trials. Probably of most interest in this result is not the small difference observed
between material of Queensland and Vietnam origin, but rather that material selected in two
different countries performed similarly when tested in diverse environments in Vietnam.

Application of phosphate fertilizer to the Lang Hanh trial markedly increased the growth
rates of both P
CC and PCH; only with the addition of NPK fertilizer did the growth of PCC
begin to approach that of P
CH. Addition of fertilizer almost doubled volume increments to 5
years of age; however addition of NPK appeared to have an adverse impact on survival in
both varieties and growth in P
CH (Table 19). This suggests substantial benefits from the
application of phosphorus fertilizer to enhance growth rates of P. caribaea, as previously
reported for a similar trial located in northern Vietnam (Table 17).

Table 18: Mean growth and survival at 4.8 years of age in P. caribaea variety/provenance
trial planted in 2001 at Lang Hanh (Lam Dong, Central Highlands; Trial 17 – refer Table 2).
Taxa
Height
(m)
Diameter
(cm)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr
-1
)
Survival
(%)
P. caribaea var. caribaea (ex. Cuba) 3.1 4.7 3.2 0.7 58
P. caribaea var. caribaea (ex. Vietnam,
Dong Ha)
3.5 5.6 4.8 1.1 64
PEE × PCH F
2
Hybrid (ex. Queensland) 3.4 5.4 4.7 1.1 68
P. caribaea var. hondurensis (ex.

Queensland)
4.5 7.2 10.8 2.6 71
P. caribaea var. hondurensis (ex.
Vietnam, Dai Lai)
4.2 6.9 9.2 1.7 53
P. elliottii 2.6 4.1 2.2 0.4 36
Grand Means
3.5 4.6 5.8 1.3 58
SE of LS Means 0.2 0.3 0.6 0.2 8


16
Table 19: Mean growth and survival at 4.8 years of age in P. caribaea fertilizer trial planted
in 2001 (Trial 18 located adjacent to Trial 17 – refer Table 2).
Taxa Fert.
Tmt.
Height
(m)
Diameter
(cm)
Volume/tree
(dm
3
)
Volume
(m
3
ha
-1
yr

-1
)
Survival
(%)
1 3.2 5.8 4.7 0.9 57
2 4.0 6.7 8.5 1.7 57
P. caribaea var. caribaea
(P
CC, ex. central Vietnam)
3 4.0 7.4 9.9 0.7 23
1 4.3 7.5 11.0 1.8 49
2 5.1 8.6 16.6 3.1 56
P. caribaea var. hondurensis
(P
CH, ex. Queensland)
3 4.4 7.3 10.9 1.5 39
1 4.0 7.0 9.1 1.7 50
2 4.9 8.2 14.9 2.7 48
P. caribaea var. hondurensis
(P
CH ex. northern Vietnam)
3 4.2 7.0 13.3 1.5 30
SE of LS Means
0.4 0.7 2.7 0.6 11
Grand Means

4.2 7.3 11.0 1.7 45
Note: Fertilizer × taxa interactions not significant.
Fertilizer Treatments: 1 = Nil Control; 2 = 300g phosphate/tree; 3 = 200g phosphate plus 100g NPK per tree
Key Findings & Proposed Future Directions

Species/Taxa Performance
The results presented from the older trials of P. caribaea indicate the excellent potential of
P. caribaea for commercial plantation forestry in Vietnam. Estimated volume production
may be imprecise due to a number of factors (e.g. lack of reliable volume equations, illegal
thinning, and low survival rates in some trials); nevertheless, it is clear that P. caribaea var.
hondurensis (P
CH) and/or P. caribaea var. bahamensis (PCB) were superior to alternative
pine species on test sites in northern Vietnam, while P
CH was clearly superior to other pines
on both low- and high-elevation sites of central Vietnam and low-elevation sites in southern
Vietnam. P
CH demonstrated wide adaptability, but appeared to be particularly well adapted
to sites in the central and southern regions of Vietnam. P
CB performed well compared to PCH
in the north, but on the basis of the trial results presented P. caribaea var. caribaea (PCC)
does not appear to offer any advantages over either P
CH or PCB for plantations in Vietnam.

In northern Vietnam P
CB may be superior to PCH, because:
1.
Trial results from northern Vietnam suggest that PCB has the potential to equal or
exceed the growth rates of P
CH in the north;
2. Higher growth potential with lower fertilizer inputs;
3. Excellent stem form as noted by Ståhl (1988);
4. Resistance to damage from both tip moth and frost, which may be contributing to
good growth of P
CB on sites in northern Vietnam.

Hybrids between P
CB and PCH may prove very useful in northern Vietnam – this hybrid has
performed well on some sites in Queensland, combining the faster growth rate of P
CH with
the superior stem form of P
CB.

However Asian pines such as P. merkusii and P. massoniana are highly valued for resin
production. Although P. caribaea consistently demonstrated substantially greater growth
potential than P. merkusii, P. massoniana and P. kesiya, the suitability of P. caribaea for
resin production needs to be evaluated. Hybrids between local species and P
CH (e.g. PCH × P.

17
merkusii,
× P. kesiya or × P. massoniana) may potentially combine superior growth of P.
caribaea with the high quality resin production of the local species; however, initial attempts
to produce these hybrids have been largely unsuccessful. Based on experience in
Queensland, P. tecunumanii and hybrids between P. caribaea and P. tecunumanii are likely
to perform well in tropical regions of central and southern Vietnam (Gwaze et al. 1999,
Brawner et al. 2005).

The hybrid between P. caribaea
and P. elliottii has not demonstrated any clear advantage
over P
CH and/or PCB in early results from a single trial at Cam Quy, in northern Vietnam.
However this hybrid has performed well compared to P. massoniana on sites in Guangxi
near the border between China and Vietnam. Therefore, further evaluation of the potential of
the P
EE × PCH hybrid compared to PCH, PCB and PCH × PCB is required to clarify its

suitability in northern Vietnam. It is unlikely that any hybrid involving P. elliottii will
perform well on sites in either central or southern Vietnam given the very poor performance
of P. elliottii in trials in these regions.

Breeding and Tree Improvement Activities
Future breeding efforts should focus on PCH and PCB (and possibly the hybrid between these
two varieties) for northern Vietnam, and P
CH for deployment in central (including Central
Highlands) and southern Vietnam. Development and testing of other hybrid combinations is
likely to be difficult and potentially beyond the capacity of local resources, and so should
only form a minor component of future breeding and tree improvement activities in Vietnam.

Relatively little variation was observed between the provenances of P
CH tested in Vietnam,
and sources derived from Queensland were equal to, or slightly better than, either the best
natural provenances or local sources of
PCH. However, the set of PCH provenances that were
tested are amongst the best provenances of P
CH in both the Oxford and CAMCORE series of
international provenance trials. This suggests that a genetic improvement program for P.
caribaea in Vietnam would benefit from:
 Local phenotypic selection of the best PCH individual trees regardless of provenance
origin. All P
CH provenances represented in trials are likely to contribute valuable
genes to the future genetic improvement of this species in Vietnam. Inter-provenance
hybrids may also provide additional vigour compared to within provenance crosses
(Johnston et al. 2003).
 Importation of genetically improved material of PCH that has been selected and bred
in Queensland – this material is genetically diverse, originates largely from a
different provenance to many of the P

CH plus-trees selected in Vietnam (i.e.
Mountain Pine Ridge vs. Poptun provenances), and has been intensively selected for
stem-straightness as well as resistance to wind-damage.
 Importation of genetic material of PCB from Queensland (or southern China) to
increase the genetic diversity of this variety in Vietnam. Both Queensland and
Guangxi received seedlots collected by the Oxford Forestry Institute across the range
of P
CB in the Bahamas.

Establishment of commercial plantations of P. caribaea in Vietnam is limited by the
availability of high-quality seed. To support an expanded plantation program with
P. caribaea in Vietnam a reliable source of genetically improved planting stock is required.
Results presented here demonstrate that genetically improved material from Queensland has
excellent potential across a wide range of sites in Vietnam. Consequently, importation of
orchard-grade seed from Queensland will provide an immediate source of high quality
planting stock. Orchard-grade seed of P
CH produced in other countries (e.g. Brazil and South

18
Africa) may also provide similar advantages but has not been tested in Vietnam. Further,
importation of seed from countries such as South Africa may present unacceptable
quarantine risks due to the presence of pitch canker.

Development of local sources of genetically improved planting stock should receive an
immediate priority:
 Continued development of PCH clonal seed orchards in coastal areas of central
Vietnam known to be suitable for seed production in this species.
 Progeny testing of all potential seed orchard parents to provide field test data as soon
as possible
 Expansion of the PCB breeding populations and establishment of clonal seed

orchard(s) in northern Vietnam.
 Vegetative propagation of elite PCH material – e.g. control-pollinated seed from
crosses amongst the most outstanding locally selected plus-trees – to provide an
immediate source of high-quality planting stock.
Acknowledgements
Support and funding for this project is provided by AusAID and the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development via the CARD project 033/05VIE. Data presented has in some cases
been previously published, and appropriate acknowledgements provided in the text where
ever this was known. The many insights and constructive suggestions provided by Prof. Le
Dinh Kha to this report are gratefully acknowledged. Miss Nghiem Quynh Chi has provided
invaluable support to completion of this review through organization and assistance with
travel and project meetings related to the project, and translation of this report into
Vietnamese.
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