Combining ability of elite clones of Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus urophylla with Eucalyptus globulus

In Brazil, eucalyptus breeding programs for cellulose production has used two species, Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus urophylla. Nevertheless, it would be useful to introgress alleles from other species to improve wood quality and volume. The objective of this research was to evaluate the hybrid potential of elite clones of E. grandis and E. urophylla from the Aracruz Celulose Company S. A. with Eucalyptus globulus clones. To do so, six elite clones were crossed with ten E. globulus clones in a half-diallel mating design. The resulting hybrid combinations as well as the four check clones were evaluated in randomized complete block experiments with single plant plots and 40 replicates from September to October 2001 at three Brazilian sites, Aracruz and São Mateus in the Espírito Santo state and Caravelas in Bahia State. Two years later the circumference at breast height (CBH) and the wood density (WD) were measured. The means were submitted to diallel analysis according to the Griffing method (1956), adapted by Geraldi and Miranda Filho (1988). Although the number of clones involved was small, the crossings of elite clones of E. grandis and E. urophylla with clones of E. globulus were promising, especially for wood quality gains.