Tropical Acacia species have been proven to be fast growing pioneer species with high adaptability to a wide range of sites/soils. Acacia species have been recommended for forest plantation (especially for craft pulp, neutral sulfite semichemical (NSSC) pulp, general utility timber and fuelwood and to a lesser extent for fodder and tannin production) and rehabilitation of marginal and degraded lands (such as saline and alkaline soil and ex-mining land). Currently, Acacia breeding has reached the stage where full-sib populations suitable for genetic mapping can be rapidly developed. Furthermore, efficient micropropagation for mass production on a commercial scale is already locally developed. The genomic background of Acacia hybrids (A. mangium x A. auriculiformis) is also quite well studied by local scientists. The Acacia hybrids have an especially good potential for this study as they have shown superior performance in plantations with a good potential to identify economically valuable QTL such as wood density and pulp quality which are multigenic traits and not so amenable to genetic engineering approaches. This crop has the potential to become a significant economic commodity to nation through export of superior planting materials as well as pulp, timber and extractives.

 Lignin is an important component of wood that constitutes a quarter of the total wood biomass. It is an undesirable component in the conversion of wood into pulp and paper. Removal of lignin is costly and polluting in the paper making process. Differences in lignin structure may dramatically affect the pulping efficiency. Therefore, genetic engineering experiments have been targeted to genes coding for enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of lignin precursors (e.g. caffeic acid q-methyltransferase (COMT) and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD)). These genes have been cloned and characterized in forest tree species such as poplar and eucalyptus. By genetically reducing the expression of these genes using the antisense strategy, poplars possessing a very low level of COMT or CAD have been obtained and characterized.