Seed Sourcing Grant: successful projects round 2 and 3
Published 13 November 2024
Applies to England
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Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Conduct desk and field-based studies to identify and register seed stands across Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s owned and managed estates. The project will focus on:
- bird cherry (Prunus padus)
- hazel (Corylus avellana)
- black poplar (Populus nigra)
- blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
- elder (Sambucus nigra)
- holly (Ilex aquifolium)
- field maple (Acer campestre)
- wild apple (Malus sylvestris)
- small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata)
A report will be produced at the end of the project including recommended actions to develop seed sources in Derbyshire for the species studied.
Future Trees Trust
Bring existing underutilised wild cherry (Prunus avium) resources back into the Future Trees Trust cherry breeding programme. Add to existing qualified seed orchards and establish a new qualified seed orchard. This will include locating additional plus trees and repropagating existing unused resources (including French material for climate change adaptation and selections for resistance to bacterial canker). This will also include carrying out genetic studies to inform on overall genetic diversity of the cherry breeding population and to ascertain the S allele (self-incompatibility status) of all plus trees.
Wirral Council
Identify and register seed stands for priority species across the Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester, Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton. Assess the seed production potential of the stands, and design and implement appropriate seed stand/species strategies. In addition, this project will create proposals for establishing new stands within the borough to increase the availability of registered Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) in the Liverpool city region.
Woodland Trust
Identify and genotype potential sources of true-to-type wild apple (Malus sylvestris) seed. Summarise findings, produce recommendations and register any suitable sites as seed stands. Deliver training to Woodland Trust and other charity and environmental NGO staff on identifying viable sources of seed, to build expertise and capacity in the sector.
Surrey County Council
Carry out desktop and field studies to identify and register three new source-identified seed stands across Surrey County Council’s land portfolio. This includes one stand each for juniper (Juniperus communis), yew (Taxus baccata), and service tree (Sorbus domestica).
Definition of terms
Basic material
The plant material from which FRM is derived and consists of seed stands, seed orchards, parent material held by tree breeders in archives, individual clones and clonal mixtures.
Forest Reproductive Material (FRM)
Can consist of fruit, seeds, and cones; all parts of plants obtained by vegetative propagation including embryos; and plant produced from any of these.
FRM (qualified)
Derives from the selection of superior individual trees which have not undergone any form of testing.
FRM (selected)
Collected from stands showing superior characteristics for example better form, growth rate, health.
FRM (source-identified)
This comes from general or specific locations within a single region of provenance or native seed zone with an altitude band but with no specific superior qualities recognised.
FRM (tested)
Derives from the selection or individual trees or stands which have been evaluated for genetic quality or, in comparison to accepted standards, have been shown to be superior.
Regions of provenance
Defined areas within which similar ecological and climatic conditions are found. They provide a framework for specifying sources of FRM.
The Register of UK Basic Materials
The source of all information on approved basic material.
Plus Tree
A tree that is selected for breeding programmes because of its superior characteristics, such as excellent form, timber volume, trunk straightness, or increase resistance to disease.
Seed orchards
Sources based on known individuals derived from tree breeding programmes. They can be qualified or tested.
Seed stand
Specifically defined areas or groups of trees with identified boundaries. They can be source-identified, selected, or tested.