Elite Red Alder Seedlings. Washington State University & Ealasid Inc. Portland, May 1 st 2013 Western Hardwood Association

Transcription

1 Elite Red Alder Seedlings Washington State University & Ealasid Inc. Portland, May 1 st 2013 Western Hardwood Association

2 The Demand for Red Alder For lumber: High grade from cabinetry to pallet stock, logs for both veneer and engineered wood products. For site remediation: A pioneer species that will grow on heavily disturbed soils and in high concentrations of metals. For value added biomass: Feedstock for sugar production. High value chemicals.

3 The Opportunity Superior seedlings: Elite genetics. Elite symbiont. Superior production technology. The biotech future.

4 ELITE GENETICS

5 Elite Genetics Clones tested for: Volume production on multiple sites. Wood properties. Disease tolerance. Cold tolerance. Growth on marginal land.

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7 Trial and Collection Areas for Red Alder and Poplar

8 Performance of Top 20 Red Alder Clones Clone number DBH gain Height gain DBH gain (%) Height gain (%) DBH: Diameter at Breast Height Top 5 clones Top 10 clones Top 20 clones

9 Red Alder Wood Properties Ring by Ring Specific Gravity Tree No. 15 Tree No. 35

10 SUPERIOR SEEDLING PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

11 Elite Red Alder Seedlings Rooted in designer media plugs (EarthPot rooting plugs): Proprietary specifications. Ready to place cuttings. Grown in sterilized specially formulated medium: Low nitrogen drawdown with a 13% air filled porosity. Continuous fertigation: To provide optimum, even growth. To load potassium and phosphorus before dormancy.

12 Rooting and Transplanting Rooting In EarthPot trays using optimized medium. Media formulated to give very good drainage under heavy misting. With best clones, rooting is consistently >90%. Transplanting After ~4-5 weeks in rooting tray, rooted cuttings are transplanted to growing trays. Growing medium is designed for minimal N drawdown. Transplant shock minimized with misting. Transplant recovery is >90%.

13 ELITE SYMBIONT

14 Elite Frankia alni Strains Red Alder can use atmospheric nitrogen through Frankia alni, a symbiont living on its roots. 37 Frankia strains. Mixes of strains for optimum establishment on a variety of sites. Large boost in growth over first 6 months to out-compete weeds. Good growth on marginal sites.

15 EALASID Inc.

16 Business Development Superior Red Alder developed by Weyerhaeuser over 13 years with huge effort. Through WSU to Ealasid Inc. : Red alder cloning technology Superior red alder clonal lines. Superior Frankia strains for marginal site growth.

17 From Research to Market! Ealasid Inc. can now sell superior red alder clones Planting stock for traditional forestry uses. Fast growth high volume cellulose producers that will grow well on marginal land. Elite red alder clones with superior nitrogen fixing Frankia alni strains = good growth on very marginal sites.

18 Demand for Red Alder Ealasid Inc. will produce large volumes of elite red alder clones to meet the market demand. Red alder seedlings for traditional reforestation on good forestry sites for lumber production. Red alder seedlings for growth on marginal sites as high volume biomass production for bio-fuel and high value chemical production.

19 Estimated Poplar/Red Alder Biomass Costs Ultra short rotations with very high stocking. 10% moisture 70% cellulose content Total cost of sugar (cents/lb) Poplar 2.75 Alder 1.72 Alder / poplar inter-planted 1.88 To produce tons of biomass 2500 acres per year are needed for poplar 2080 acres per year are needed for alder.

20 THE BIOTECH FUTURE

21 Lignocellulosic Challenges: Scale and Cost Resources Recalcitrant lignocellulosic biomass 1 billion tons annually Products Renewable biofuels Petrochemical substitutes Specialty chemicals Intermediate chemicals Monosaccharides ( M tons) Polymeric lignins ( M tons) Cost: cents/lbs

22 Redirecting Carbon Flux from Photosynthesis to Valued End-products Heartwood Monolignols Allyl/propenylphenols Phe 2-Phenylethanol

23 Phenylethanol/Styrene Biosynthetic Pathway Poly(styrene) product Phe 2-Phenylethanol (alkyl benzenes)

24 Biosynthetic Pathway to 2-Phenylethanol from Phenylalanine

25 Vector Construction for Hybrid Poplar Transformation Xho I BamH I part7 pdonr221 P1-P2 PAAS CaMV p35s OCS CaMV p35s PAAS OCS + pdonr221 P5-P2 PAR1 (amplified from pk2gw7 construct) CaMV p35s PAR1 T35S Recombination pkgw PAAS / PAR1 CaMV p35s PAAS OCS CaMV p35s PAR1 T35S pkgw RhFCPAAS / LePAR1 pkgw PAAS / PAR1 Populus tremula P. alba Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 Costa et al. (2013) In review

26 Transformation of Hybrid Poplar Moved to Greenhouse Ready for Field Trial

27 Sequestered 2-Phenylethanol Accumulation in Transgenic Poplar Costa et al. (2013) In review

28 Field Trial Lines Parent Number of lines in field trial Number of trees in field trial NAC transcription factors P. trichocarpa Arogenate dehydratase P. tremula P. alba Allylphenol synthases P. tremula P. alba Propenyl-phenol synthases P. tremula P. alba Phenylethanol P. tremula P. alba Peroxidase P. tremula P. alba

29 Ealasid Inc. Grown on Purpose Ultra-short rotation designer crops Sustainable production Marginal agricultural/forestry land use Energy, commodity and specialty chemicals

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31 SUMMARY

32 Target Production Chemicals from Designer Woody Biomass Aromatics Styrenes Phenylethanol Eugenol Propene Derivatives Sugars Lignins OTHERS

33 Contacts Barri Herman Norman Lewis Keith Jones