Sowing the seeds of more genetically advanced conifer breeding

While classical breeding has been used for decades to improve tree characteristics and accelerate their growth, a better understanding of their adaptive response genetics is necessary for enabling breeding programmes to cope with climate change. An EU-funded project has collaborated with scientists from across the world to create the tools and data needed.

As the largest, tallest and longest living non-clonal terrestrial organisms on Earth, conifers have immense ecological importance, dominating many terrestrial landscapes and representing the largest terrestrial carbon sink.

See more: cordis.europa.eu