Method and standard for selecting elite nut trees of Korean pine

The fruit-bearing quantities of nut Korean pines (Pinus Koraiensis) of natural stands in Changbai Mountain, Xiaoxing'an Mountain, and Wanda Mountain and of artificial forest in Hegang area of Heilongjiang Province were investigated and measured by seed collection of singletree during 1988–1998. In order to evaluate the elite nut tree of fructification, the characteristics of fructification of Korena pine, including, the fruit-bearing quantity, output of seed, quantity of cone, cone size, seed size, the ratio of null seed by solid seed, seed percentage of cone, rate of the cones infested with pest, and fruit-bearing index, etc., were analyzed with the variance analysis, multiple comparison and stepwise regression to obtain the contribution ratio of each fruit-bearing factor to fruit-bearing quantity. The multiple correlation factors and the partial correlation factors for fruit-bearing quantities of Korean pine were determined for different geographical areas, and the cone length, thousand-grain-weight, and the seed percentage of cone were considered as important indices for selection of elite trees. The method of modified weighted coefficients was adopted to select the elite nut trees of Korean pine. Standards for selecting elite nut trees from the natural stands and artificial forest of Korean pine were established. This study could provde selection method and standard of elite nut trees for setting up seed orchard of Korean Pine.