Early Evaluation and Selection of the Chinese Fir Breeding Parents Based on Growth and Cone Production Traits

Abstract:

In order to promote the breeding process of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata), growth and cone production traits of parent clones at 3-year-old in the third generation breeding gardens of Chinese fir in Longshan Forest Farm of Lechang City and Xiaokeng Forest Farm of Qujiang District of Shaoguan City in Guangdong Province were studied. The results showed that all of the growth traits, such as height, diameter at breast height (DBH), individual volume and canopy, varied significantly (P<0.01) among clones in the same breeding garden with phenotypic and genetic variation coefficients ranged from 12.8% to 73.5% and 6.5% to 59.2%, respectively. Furthermore, all of growth traits had high repeatability (≥ 0.70), which was beneficial for parent re-selection. The best linear unbiased prediction method (BLUP) was used to estimate the breeding values of each parent clone regarding different growth traits and resulted in a ranking. When selection was made for growth (the breeding values of growth traits were all in the top 50%) and cone production traits, 22 and 30 elite parents were identified from Longshan Breeding Garden and Xiaokeng Breeding Garden respectively, with a common list harboring the clones of cx836, cx837, cx840, cx845, cx851, cx856, cx859 and cx877.

Key words:Chinese fir;Parent;Breeding value;Early selection