Haleh Hayatgheibi and her PhD supervisor Harry Wu (Photo: Anne Honsel)
On Friday, 18th of May, HalehHayatgheibi successfully defended her PhD thesis. She has worked on lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), a fast-growing tree that was largely introduced into Sweden in the mid-1960s. One major problem of lodgepole pine trees is that their stems are often bending or even break and this lowers the economic value of the wood. Haleh Hayatgheibi designed breeding strategies to optimize both wood quantity and quality of lodgepole pine to reduce stem bending and breakage.
Haleh Hayatgheibi estimated genetic parameters which determine wood quality and quantity of lodgepole pine. She measured for example the diameter of the stem as parameter for wood quantity and the stiffness of the stem. A higher stiffness might prevent the breakage of the stem when it bends and decrease the economic loss. This feature is especially interesting for Northern Sweden.
Lodgepole pine trees from different origin in Canada were planted in different climatic regions in Northern Sweden, e.g. close to the coast or more inland. Haleh Hayatgheibi compared those trees with each other to see which are best suited for which region in Northern Sweden. Based on her results, she can now recommend tree breeders which lodgepole pine trees have the best prerequisites for which climatic region.
Title of the thesis: “Quantitative genetics of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) wood quality traits in Sweden”
Link to the doctoral thesis: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-4836
The public defence took place in Björken at SLU Umeå on Friday, 18thof May 2018. Faculty opponent was Yousry A. El-Kassaby from the Forest Sciences Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada. The supervisor was Harry Xiaming Wu.