Genetic control and nursery-plantation genotypic correlations for growth characteristics of white spruce somatic clones.

摘要

Height and diameter of white spruce clones were measured over two growing seasons in a forest nursery and for 4 more yr at two field sites. Clonal heritability (H_c2) was moderate and stable in the nursery, but decreased with age, reaching 0.26 and 0.11 for height and 0.14 and 0.04 for diameter, respectively, at the two field sites. Height exhibited weak to moderate H_c2 and strong genotypic correlations with the different growth characteristics. The strong age-age genotypic correlations (>=0.809) and nursery-plantation correlations (>=0.347) for height indicate that selection for height can be conducted at a young age thus reducing the costs of clonal tests.Digital Object Identifier http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2013.791231