Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovative Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm was approved by the Department of Guangdong Science and Technology in September 2010. After five years of construction and development, the Laboratory smoothly passed the acceptance test organized by the Department of Guangdong Science and Technology in 2015. During the period of laboratory construction, the Laboratory has undertaken more than 160 research projects, such as the National Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the National 973 Project and the 863 Plan, with the funding of more than 80 million yuan in total. There are 44 permanent staff in the lab, including 22 professors (researcher fellows). There are existing instruments and equipment of more than 10 million yuan in the lab. The area of indoor Laboratory is more than 1,000 m2, and the area of field experiment base is more than 2,000 mu (1mu=666.67 m2).
The laboratory mainly focuses on four research areas, including innovation and utilization of forest germplasm for industrial timber in South China, innovation and utilization for economic forest germplasm in South China, innovation and utilization of plant germplasm for urban forest and grassland in South China, and innovation and utilization for woody flower germplasm in South China. The overall objective of the lab orientation and construction is to develop the laboratory as an important base for research and high-level personnel training for innovation of forest plant germplasm in South China. The final goal as a whole is to reach a leading level in home in research and partially the advanced level in abroad.
Germplasm resources are an important and basic source for bio-economy development. The major breakthroughs in future plant breeding rely on the discovery and utilization of key excellent germplasm resources. The main task of the laboratory is to strengthen the collection, conservation, research and utilization of forest plant germplasm resources, with a focus on mining and exploitation of excellent germplasm resources and the innovation of germplasm resources, so as to provide the genetic resources and technical support for the development and utilization of forest resources.
At present, the laboratory has made significant advances or breakthroughs in research in several areas, including the collection and research of seed resources of fast-growing and plus native broad-leaved trees, the germplasm resources and genetic improvement of pine trees, the germplasm resources and genetic improvement for high-quality timber of Eucalyptus, the medicine germplasm innovation and utilization in Southern China, the innovation of woody oil plant germplasm, the innovation of grassland plant germplasm, the innovation of flower germplasm, the dynamics of forest resources in ice and snow disasters, and the theory and techniques of post-disaster vegetation restoration.