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 Summary
The inner dry land areas of Chile, between the VI and VIII Regions, constitutes a territory of more than 1.8 million hectares, characterized to have soils with different degrees of erosion, but with a high forest potential. This potential would allow to satisfy the present and future demand of raw materials for the lumber industrial sector and other associated sectors, nevertheless, it is not being used properly. The subutilization of this important area obeys to that the fast growth forest species, like the traditionally established pine and the eucalyptus plantations in these zones, demonstrate severe limitations to be developed in sites with an inferior annual rainfall of 500 mm, mainly if it is concentrated in the winter months, which leaves the plants exposed to long summer drought periods, when the conditions of temperature are more favorable for growth.
Past experiences in inner dry land plantations of VII the Region, show that the E. globulus is a physiologically efficient species, since annually uses less cubic meters of water by hectare by volumetric increase of wood in comparison with the Pinus radiata. Nevertheless, the productivity of the Eucalyptus in dry land zones is significantly inferior to the one of zones with greater precipitation.
On the matter, some tools of genetic improvement, like the selection of E. globulus genotypes able to exhibit excellent productive yields under water limitating conditions, combined with clonal propagation tools, will allow to make available suitable genetic material for the forest companies and the small farmers who are interested in making plantations on the inner dry land zones, increasing the expectations of associated economic return to the forest business.
INFOR has originated material from E. globulus Tree Improvement Program, which has been planted in trials in the inner dry land. plantations This genetic pool will be used to select and to characterize at least 20 clones that will constitute the genetic material to be used in the present project. At the same time, forest plantations in dry land areas will be used to select E. globulus genetic material. The selected material will be propagated by micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis or direct organogenesis techniques. Also, some high productive clones selected in normal water regime sites will be genetically transformed, using Agrobacterium tumefaciens as vector, to incorporate specific genes that confer to them tolerance to drought. Genetically transformed clones will be vegetatively propagated, and a system of certification of the clonal fidelity will be settle down, using molecular markers technologies.
The project will be carried by an alliance between two technological organizations with broad experience in forest species and genetic improvement, as they are INFOR and INIA, with forest nurseries and representative forest companies of the area of influence of the project (inner dry land between the V and VIII Regions), those who have infrastructure and technological capacities for the multiplication and technological transference of the elite material. The project will allow to extend the possibilities of productive development in the inner dry land of Chile, with the consequent economic and social benefit for the farmers of these regions, who are composed by an important percentage of the call Family Agriculture Farmers, who at the moment have few productive possibilities. The project contemplates the possible protection of the intellectual property that this one generates, including the protection of the elite clones through its inscription in the Register of Protected Varieties that takes the SAG (Law 19,342 of 1994); the protection of the vegetative propagation system, specially the micropropagation, and the protection of the systems of genetic transformation that will be susceptible to protect through their industrial patents.
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