On Acacia Hybrid

Introduction Forest  needs to be replenished as they are continiually being harvested.  Global problems such as increasing population and diminishing resources, necessitates improvement in the strategies for breeding woody perennials.  It is necessary to protect current resources against genetic erosion, insect, disease, fire and other natural sissasters.  Clonal propagation by tissue culture offers an alternative to cuttings and has potential to provide high multiplication rate of uniform genotypes, resulting a short term gains.  (Beck, S.L and  Dunlop, R.W, 2001). Acacia auriculiformis A.  Cunn.ex Benth. And A. mangium Willd are closely related Acacia species which belong to the section Juliflorae (Benth) Maiden & Betche in the sub genus Phyllodineae Benth.  The two species are naturally distributed throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.    Since A auriculiformis and A mangium ove rlap in their distribution and their relation is very close, they can  naturally cross hybridized.  The hybrid posses morphological characteristic intermediate between the two parents, and shows aremarkably hybrid vigor in growth.  Another favorable charatteristic such as better growth, straight stem, and pest and disease resistance are recognized in the hybrid. (Widyatmoko, AYPBC and Shiraishi, S., 2001) The flower of acacia posses the ability for self and cross-pollinationinterspecific pollination has been reported.  These character of reproduction are disadventagoius to commercial propagation and plantation through seed.  Therefore, the clonal propagation of superior tree will be of great importance in the management of acacia plantation (Xie and Hong, 2001)