Genetic parameters and gains for growth and wood properties in Florida source loblolly pine in the southeastern United States

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1025-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A Atwood ◽  
Timothy L White ◽  
Dudley A Huber

One hundred and thirteen open-pollinated families from Florida source loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) were tested in four states in the southeastern United States. Heritabilities and genetic correlations were estimated for volume, specific gravity, and latewood percentage at three different growth stages: juvenile (ages 0–10 years), mature (11–17 years), and total (0–17 years). Heritabilities of growth traits (0.09–0.11) were consistently lower than for wood property traits (0.16–0.33). Growth traits for Florida loblolly exhibited high genotype × environment interaction (rB = 0.44), whereas wood properties did not (rB = 0.90). The higher heritabilities and genetic stability across environments make wood properties amenable to genetic manipulation through breeding programs. In contrast, the high genotype × environment interaction of growth traits for Florida loblolly pine requires more research to understand the possible implication of these effects on breeding programs. Trait–trait and age–age genetic correlations were determined for growth and wood properties. Strong positive age–age correlations were present for latewood percentage, volume, and specific gravity. Weak negative trait–trait genetic correlations existed between specific gravity and volume across ages (–0.13 to –0.43). No genetic correlation existed between latewood percentage and volume, while a moderate favorable genetic correlation existed between latewood percentage and specific gravity (0.47 to 0.59). Genetic gains in volume and specific gravity were compared for various types of selection. In one type, forward selection of the top 20 individuals (of 3484) based on 17-year volume, resulted in a 20.5% genetic gain in volume; however, a concomitant loss of –6.4% also occurred in specific gravity. If a selection index was used to hold specific gravity constant, a gain in total volume of 14% was obtained.

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 101-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Mckeand ◽  
B. Li ◽  
J. E. Grissom ◽  
F. Isik ◽  
K. J. S. Jayawickrama

Abstract Variation in heritability and in genetic correlation estimates were evaluated for juvenile tree height and volume for six testing areas of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) in the southeastern United States. Variance components and their functions (heritability and type B genetic correlations) were estimated from 265 six-parent disconnected diallel series, tested in almost 1000 trials (4 tests per diallel series). Original data were collected at age 6 years from about one million trees (265 diallel series x 30 crosses x 36 trees per cross/site x 4 sites) planted in field tests. Genetic tests were from the second cycle of breeding in the North Carolina State University - Industry Cooperative Tree Improvement Program. The overall unbiased individual-tree narrow-sense heritability for height was 0.19 and for volume was 0.16. The broad-sense heritabilities for height (0.24) and for volume (0.22) were higher than narrow-sense heritabilities due to the presence of non-additive genetic variance. There were moderate regional differences in these estimates, with tests in the Lower Gulf Coastal Plain tending to have the highest heritabilities for growth traits. There was very little association between site index and heritability, but heritabilities were higher on sites with the highest survival and highest test precision. Genotype x environment interactions were generally low both for half-sib and full-sib families, indicating that families can be operationally deployed to different sites with little concern about unpredictable performance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finto Antony ◽  
Laurence R. Schimleck ◽  
Lewis Jordan ◽  
Benjamin Hornsby ◽  
Joseph Dahlen ◽  
...  

The use of clonal varieties in forestry offers great potential to improve growth traits (quantity) and wood properties (quality) of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). Loblolly pine trees established via somatic embryogenesis (clones), full-sib zygotic crosses, and half-sib zygotic open-pollinated families were sampled to identify variation in growth and wood properties among and within clonal lines and zygotic controls. Increment cores 5 mm in diameter were collected at age 4 from a total of 2615 trees. Growth properties (diameter at 1.4 m and total tree height) and wood properties (whole-core density, latewood and earlywood density, and latewood percent) were measured for each tree sampled in the study. Overall, growth properties were better for full-sib seedling than for clonal lines, whereas wood density was higher for clonal lines than full-sib and open-pollinated seedlings. However, there were clonal lines with better growth and higher wood density. Clonal repeatability of both growth and wood properties across sampled sites and genetic correlations between growth and wood traits were determined, with higher repeatability observed for wood traits compared with growth traits. Significant genetic correlations were observed for tree height and wood properties, whereas weak correlations were observed for diameter and wood properties.


2004 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 196-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer H. Myszewski ◽  
Floyd E. Bridgwater ◽  
William J. Lowe ◽  
Thomas D. Byram ◽  
Robert A. Megraw

Abstract In recent years, several studies have examined the effect of microfibril angle (MFA) on wood quality. However, little research has been conducted upon the genetic mechanisms controlling MFA. In this study, we examined the heritability of MFA in loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L.,and its genetic relationships with height, diameter, volume, and specific gravity. Increment cores were collected at breast height from 20 to 25 progeny from each of 12 to 17 crosses (among 11 parents) in two modified partial-diallels in different locations in southern Arkansas. Specific gravitywas measured on segments containing rings 1 through 5 and on segments containing rings 6 through 20. MFA was measured on the earlywood and latewood sections of rings 4, 5, 19, and 20. Rings 4 and 5 were chosen as representative of core wood and rings 19 and 20 as representative of outer wood. Analyses of variance revealed statistically significant genetic and environmental influences on MFA. Significant general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA), and SCA × block effects indicated that there are both additive and nonadditive genetic influences on MFA. Individual-tree, narrow-sense heritability estimates were variable, ranging from 0.17 for earlywood (ring) 4 MFA to 0.51 for earlywood (ring) 20 MFA. Genetic correlations between MFA, specific gravity, and the growth traits were nonsignificant due to large estimated standard errors. South.J. Appl. For. 28(4):196–204.


1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1080-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Jett ◽  
S. E. McKeand ◽  
R. J. Weir

The stability of wood specific gravity for 12-year-old loblolly pine (Pinustaeda L.) was evaluated for 18 open-pollinated families and four bulked seed lots representing provenances from the eastern shore of Maryland; Marion County, Florida; Gulf Hammock, Florida; and Livingston Parish, Louisiana. Wood samples were collected from seven plantings chosen to provide a north–south and east–west sample distribution essentially encompassing an area spanning the natural range of loblolly pine. There was significant genotype × environment interaction, and 4 of the 18 families were classified as unstable for specific gravity. These four families accounted for 49.5% of the genotype × environment interaction sum of squares. However, the loss in potential gain in a breeding program for specific gravity due to the presence of a significant genotype × environment interaction was estimated to be only 1%. Loblolly pine from the Florida provenances and from the widely planted Livingston Parish provenance consistently displayed low specific gravity and ranked at or near the bottom at all test locations, including the southernmost plantings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor D Walker ◽  
Fikret Isik ◽  
Steven E McKeand

AbstractAcoustic time of flight and drill resistance (surrogates for wood stiffness and density, respectively) were measured on 11,097 standing trees from 269 pollen-mix families of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) in 6- to 9-year-old progeny tests at eight sites across the southeastern United States. Specific gravity was measured on two test sites. The phenotypic correlation between specific gravity and drill resistance was moderate (r = 0.68), whereas the genetic correlation was very strong (rg = 0.96). Narrow-sense heritabilities for acoustic time of flight and drill resistance were around 0.35 for individual trees and very strong (0.90) for family means. High genetic correlations (>0.80) between pairs of sites suggested a low genotype-by-environment interaction for both traits. Genetic correlations between wood quality traits and other economic traits (growth and stem straightness) were low except for a moderate correlation between acoustic time of flight and tree slenderness (rg = –0.64). The checklot ranked near the middle for both wood quality traits, implying no inadvertent selection occurred in this population that has been selected intensively for volume productivity. This study is the first to apply these tools in a large breeding program, and results suggest they are effective for selecting genotypes for wood quality.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S Baltunis ◽  
Dudley A Huber ◽  
Timothy L White ◽  
Barry Goldfarb ◽  
Henry E Stelzer

Field trials established with clones and seedlings from the same families provide an opportunity for comparing full-sib family performance across propagule types. More than 1200 different clones together with over 14 000 zygotic seedlings from the same 61 full-sib families of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) were tested on multiple sites across Florida and Georgia. The genetic variance associated with several early growth traits partitioned differently depending on propagule type. Most of the genetic variance associated with growth in the clonal population was additive, while the estimate of dominance in the seedling population was greater than estimates of dominance in the clonal population, based on single-site analyses. Apparently, a lack of randomization of the seedlings prior to field establishment caused full-sib families to appear more different, inflating estimates of dominance genetic variance. Parental and full-sib family ranks were stable regardless of propagule type as indicated by type B genetic correlations. In the clonal population, little genotype × environment interaction was observed across sites at the parental, family, and clonal levels for all traits. The high genetic correlations between propagule types provide further assurance that selections made through traditional tree-improvement activities for recurrent selection for general combining ability in seedling trials can also be used successfully for breeding families to test in a clonal forestry program.


2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Susaeta ◽  
Pankaj Lal ◽  
Janaki Alavalapati ◽  
Evan Mercer ◽  
Douglas Carter

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