The project “Larch for Flex­i­bil­i­ty” is devel­op­ing high-per­for­mance hybrid larch clone vari­eties for forestry. The method of somat­ic embryo­ge­n­e­sis is used to mul­ti­ply the plant material.

Five project part­ners are work­ing togeth­er to improve the asso­ci­at­ed process chain and the mar­ket launch of out­stand­ing clones:

• The Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­sität zu Berlin (AG Plant Evo­lu­tion and Diver­si­ty; coor­di­na­tion) is opti­miz­ing the in-vit­ro steps of somat­ic embryo­ge­n­e­sis. Drought?
• The Tech­ni­cal Uni­ver­si­ty of Dres­den and the Rheinisch-West­fälis­che Tech­nis­che Hochschule Aachen are devel­op­ing mol­e­c­u­lar mark­er sys­tems for the clear and cost-effec­tive iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of genotypes.
• Staats­be­trieb Sach­sen­forst is respon­si­ble for the breed­ing and approval pro­ce­dures of the clones accord­ing to FoVG.
• Baum­schulen Ober­dor­la GmbH (tree nurs­ery) are opti­miz­ing the hor­ti­cul­tur­al part of plant pro­duc­tion and are respon­si­ble for the mar­ket launch.

The project aims to devel­op mar­ketable clone vari­eties that will enable the cul­ti­va­tion of high-qual­i­ty hybrid larch plant mate­r­i­al in forestry with­out the need for seed. Because hybrid larch is very drought-tol­er­ant and fast-grow­ing at the same time, the plant mate­r­i­al can also be used for the cli­mate-appro­pri­ate con­ver­sion of for­est areas.