Spatial analysis increases efficiency of progeny testing of Chinese fir

We used spatial, global trend and post-blocking analysis to examine the effectiveness of a progeny trial in a tree breeding program for Chinese fir （Cunninghamia lanceolata （Lamb.） Hook） on a hilly site with an environmental gradient from hill top to bottom. Diameter at breast height （DBH） and tree height data had significant spatial auto-correlations among rows and columns. Adding a firstorder separable autoregressive term more effectively modelled the spatial variation than did the incomplete block （IB） model used for the experimental design. The spatial model also accounted for effects of experimental design factors and greatly reduced residual variances. The spatial analysis rel- ative to the IB analysis improved estimation of genetic parameters with the residual variance reduced 13 and 19% for DBH and tree height, respectively; heritability increased 35 and 51% for DBH and tree height, respectively; and genetic gain improved 3-5%. Fitting global trend and postblocking did not improve the analyses under IB model. The use of a spatial model or combined with a design model is recommended for forest genetic trials, particularly with global trend and local spatial variation of hilly sites.

Progeny Test on the Natural Populations and Selection of Excellent Populations from Fraxinus Mandshurica

Fraxinus mandshurica is one of the ancient relict flora species originated from the Tertiary period, which is mainly produced in the eastern mountains in Northeast China. It has an important scientific value for studying the Tertiary flora and the Quaternary glacial climate. In order to make rational use of the natural genetic resources of F. mandshurica , and to increase the scientific and technological added value of improved varieties, this study used the method of positional observation of fixed standard fields to discuss the genetic variations of tree height and DBH of the natural populations and its open-pollinated progenies, systematically analyze the heritability and genetic gains in growth characters based on the analysis of progeny test, growth dynamic and heredity effects. The populations with good growth, stress resistance and adaptability were selected. The results showed that there were extremely significant difference in the growth characters among the natural populations, and the coefficients of variance for tree height （22.99%） were smaller, while the coefficients of variance for DBH （41.37%） were larger. On the other hand, there were extremely significant differences in the growth characters among the open-pollinated progenies, and the interaction between these progenies and the blocks was significant. Meanwhile, the growth characters had strong heritability, high genetic gain, and remarkable heredity effects. The heritability of tree height and DBH were 0.825 and 0.781, and the genetic gains were 15.16% and 25.85%, respectively. Therefore, Shanhetun （SHT） and Xinglong （XIL） were determined to be excellent natural populations both in the growth, resistance and adaptation with growth traits as the main evaluation index, which could be widely applied in the advanced generation improvement breeding.

Validation of SSR Markers Linked to Flowering Time QTLs in Sorghum through Progeny Test

Flowering time is critically important for crop yield, and detection of its genetic factors with strongly associated DNA markers is necessary in breeding programs. This study was undertaken to validate the quantitative trait loci （QTLs） underlying flowering time of sorghum based on the association between genotypes at SSR marker loci and flowering time in F3 family lines from self-pollinated heterozygous F2 plants developed by crossing between ＂SC112＂---an early flowering variety from Ethiopia and ＂Kikuchi Zairai＂--a late flowering variety from Japan. The results showed that the SSR markers linked to the QTLs on sorghum chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5b, 7 and 8b were significantly （P 〈 0.05） associated with flowering time, and these markers and the QTLs reported previously are valid. On the other hand, the genotypes at the marker locus SB596 of qFT1-2 on chromosome 1 was not significantly associated with flowering time. The valid DNA markers, SB258 in qFTI-1, SB 1512 in qFT2, SB 1839 in qFT3, SB3369 in qFT5b, SB4096 in qFT7 and SB4540 and SB4660 in qFT8b, might be useful for DNA-marker assisted breeding.

Theoretical analyses of testing efficiency in long-term breeding of poplar

The major goal for long-term poplar breeding can be formulated as maximizing annual progress in Group Merit Gain at a given annual budget （GMG/Y＊）. To evaluate different breeding scenarios, a deterministic simulator BREEDING CYCLE ANALYZER covering the most important aspects （gain, cost, time, technique, and gene diversity） of a full breeding cycle was used. The breeding strategies considered was based on pairwise crossing of the selected breeding population and balanced within family selection for the next breeding population. A main scenario and a number of alternative scenarios within these constraints were evaluated using estimates of the best available inputs for poplars. In focus was a comparison between three different testing scenarios for selecting the parents mated to create future breeding generations, thus selecting based on phenotype, clone test or progeny test. For the main scenario, the highest GMG/Y, and the optimal selection age for clone, phenotype and progeny strategies were 0.7480 %, 0.6989% and 0.4675%; 7, 6, and 11 years respectively. Clone test was best except when heritability was high, plant price was high or total budget was low; phenotype strategy was the second except for the case of extremely low narrow-sense heritability, for which the progeny strategy was a little more efficient than phenotype strategy. GMG/Y was markedly affected by narrow-sense heritability, additive variance at mature age, rotation age, plant-dependent cost, total budget and the time needed to produce the test plants, while diversity loss and recombination cost had rather weak effect on GMG/Y. Short rotation age and cheap testing cost favoured all three testing strategies. Comparably short rotation age, low plant-dependent cost and high total budget seem to promote early selection for progeny strategy.

Comparison of genetic impact on growth and wood traits between seedlings and clones from the same plus trees of Pinus koraiensis

To evaluate the relationships among clones and open pollinated families from the same plus trees and to select elite breeding materials,growth,and wood characteristics of 33-year-old Pinus korainsis clones and families were measured and analyzed.The results show that growth and wood characters varied significantly.The variation due to clonal effects was higher than that of family effects.The ratio of genetic to phenotypic coefficient of variation of clones in growth and wood traits was above 90%,and the repeatability of these characteristics was more than 0.8,whereas the ratio of genetic to phenotypic coefficient of variation of families was above 90%.The broad-sense heritability of all characteristics exceeded 0.4,and the narrow-sense family heritability of growth traits was less than 0.3.Growth characteristics were positively correlated with each other,but most wood properties were weakly correlated in both clones and families.Fiber length and width were positively correlated between clones and families.Using the membership function method,eleven clones and four families were selected as superior material for improved diameter growth and wood production,and two families from clonal and open-pollinated trees showed consistently better performance.Generally,selection of the best clones is an effective alternative to deployment of families as the repeatability estimates from clonal trees were higher than narrow-sense heritability estimates from open pollinated families.The results provide valuable insight for improving P.koraiensis breeding programs and subsequent genetic improvement.

Inheritance of growth and survival in two 9-year-old, open-pollinated progenies of an advanced breeding population of Chinese firs in southeastern China

Tree growth traits （tree height, DBH and stem volume） and survival from two 9-year-old, open-pollinated progeny tests of Chinese fir were investigated for heri- tability, genotype × environment interaction, age-age genetic correlation and selection efficiency. The 97 and 79 families planted at two sites were collected from the thirdcycle seed orchard. Individual heritability was estimated between 0.05 and 0.21 for tree height, DBH, and volume and between 0.45 and 1.0 for survival. Family heritability was between 0.20 and 1.14. Significant genotype x envi- ronment interaction was observed for the three growth traits. Type B genetic correlation was between 0.41 and 0.67 with an increasing trend as tree grows. High age-age genetic correlation was observed with correlation reaching 0.9 after age 4 for height, DBH, and volume. The genetic gains were estimated at 3.26, 3.39 and 5.98 % for tree height, DBH, and volume with 10 % selection intensity. The implication for advanced tree breeding in Chinese fir is discussed.

STUDY ON THE HALF-SIB FAMILY SELECTION FOR THE SUPERIOR TREE OF SCOTS PINE

Investigation and rescarches are carricd out in MaocrshanForcst Farm attached to Northeast Forcstry University in 1988. Comparedwith the contrast, 29 superior familics and 21 inferior families areselected from 112 families of half sib and open pollination of seven-year old scots pine stands by using multicharacters correlations analysis and variance analysis (ANOVA) as well as principal component index (PCI) selection. This index selection which collects multicharacters information has more advantage than monocharacter selection. It is very important to select fine famiIies for buildingthe first generation seed orchard and changing from trial stand toseeding orchard.

Variation analyses of controlled pollinated families and parental combining ability of Pinus koraiensis

To evaluate and select elite Pinus koraiensis parent combinations and offspring families,34 full-sib families were evaluated.Variance analysis of tree height,diameter at breast height and volume showed no significant differences among each block,the interaction of block,male and female.The family heritability of all traits were high(>0.9).Phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variance of height,diameter at breast height,and volume showed that the phenotypic coefficient of variation of volume in the same combination was higher than height and diameter at breast height,indicating that volume was the main factor determining excellent single plant selection.The female and male trees with the best general combining ability indicated that the optimal parental hybridization was not necessarily the optimal combination.In addition,the least parents of hybrid offspring performance were always relatively poor and should not be selected as hybrid parents.Additionally,we found there was no significant difference among the effects of female and male parents by random modelling,but there were significant differences by fixed modelling.The most significant effect of female-and male interaction,and the selection of better female or male parents in the test parent group should be efficient as well as the results of significant variation among them by fixed modelling.For the evaluated breeding population of P.koraiensis,the backward selection of excellent parent combinations or forward selection of excellent individuals as progeny should be the major breeding strategies.