Genetic Variation in Growth of Eucalyptus Grandis Grown Under Irrigation in South-Eastern Australia (Report‪)‬

Introduction Eucalyptus grandis is one of the eucalypts most widely planted around the world. In Australia, strong interest developed in planting this species in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the Australian Paper Mills Company (APM) began establishing plantations in the Coffs Harbour region of New South Wales (NSW). However, this interest faded and APM's plantations were subsequently sold in the mid-1970s to State Forests of NSW (Matheson et al. 1996). More than 10 y later, field trials conducted by the Shell Company of Australia identified E. grandis as the best eucalypt available for establishment of fast-growing pulpwood plantations over a wide range of coastal Queensland sites (Cromer et al. 1991). Though few plantations of the species were subsequently established, renewed interest in plantations of the species since the late 1990s has resulted in thousands of hectares being established in north-eastern NSW and south-eastern Queensland (Wood et al. 2001). In addition, E. grandis is one of the key parent species from which hybrid eucalypts are currently being developed for a wide range of site types in Australia (Harwood and Arnold 1999).