Open Access

ARTICLE

Genetic Variation in Growth and Cone Traits of Pinus Koraiensis Half-Sib Families in Northeast China

David Kombi Kaviriri^1,3,4,#, Xiaoting Liu^1,#, Zuoyi Fan^2,#, Jingyuan Wang², Qi Wang², Lianfu Wang², Lixing Wang², Damase Khasa⁵, Xiyang Zhao^1,*
1 State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China
2 Linjiang Forestry Bureau of Jilin Province, Lijiang, 134600, China
3 Department of Natural Resources Management, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, 023, Democratic Republic of Congo
4 Departments of Forestry, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Semuliki Official University, Beni, 048, Democratic Republic of Congo
5 Canada Research Chair in Forest and Environmental Genomics, Centre for Forest Research and Institute for Integrative Biology and Systems, Université Laval, Quebec GiV 0A6, Canada
# The first three authors have contributed equally to this work
* Corresponding Author: Xiyang Zhao. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, 89(1), 57-69. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2020.08409

Received 22 August 2019; Accepted 05 November 2019; Issue published 01 March 2020

Abstract

Genetic parameters were evaluated for growth and cone characteristics (tree height, diameter at breast height, volume, cone number, thousand seeds weight and single cone seeds weight) on 86 half-sib families of Pinus koraiensis aged 31 years. Analyses of variance revealed significant differences (p < 0.001) in all growth and cone traits among families while no significant differences were detected among blocks and the interaction between blocks and families. The average family values for growth traits were 17.22 m, 8.67 cm and 0.43 m3 for tree height, diameter at breast height and volume, respectively. The average cone number, thousand seeds weight and single cone seeds weight were 17.57, 748.91 g and 77.25 g, respectively. Genotypic additive variance and phenotypic variances ranged from 0.00009 to 3.820 and from 0.0005 to 23.066, while genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation ranged from 2.693% to 37.196% and 4.963% to 60.595%, respectively. Heritability at the individual and family level ranged from 0.152 to 0.215 and 0.611 to 0.862, respectively. Growth traits were significantly positively correlated with each other, but cone traits showed a weak correlation with growth traits. Based on 10% selection rate, nine families each were selected as elite materials in terms of high performance in volume and cone numbers, with 22.16% and 43.82% genetic gain in volume and cone number, respectively. These results provide beneficial information to select excellent families and establish orchards of P. koraiensis from improved seeds.

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Keywords

Pinus koraiensis; half-sib families; genetic; variation; selection

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Citations