Clonal variation in gonen seed orchard of anatolian black pine originated from Sutçuler-Tota

This thesis, carried out in Sutçuler-Tota originated Gonen Anatolian Black Pine seed orchard numbered 50, examines the height, breast diameter, branch length and the number of female and male flowers of the seed trees in the orchard as well as some cone and seed features and clonal differences in terms of flower and cone fertility. According to the results of the study, the difference among the clones- except from the seed features, the number of male flowers in 2012 and the number of male inflorescences has been found statistically insignificant.It has been established that the average tree height in the seed orchard is 4,52 m, the diameter breast height is 15.18 cm, the branch length is 132.53 cm and the crown volume is 35.63 m3.Upon an analysis of two-year flower features of the clones in the orchard, the average numbers in 2012 were set as follows: the number of male inflorescences was 93; the average number of male flowers was 1222, and the average number of female flowers was 273. And the average numbers of 2013 were set as follows: the number of male inflorescences was 177, the number of male flowers was 2889, and the number of female flowers was 258. It's also been determined that 43% of the female flowers and 52% of the male flowers in the orchard in 2012 as well as 39% of the female flowers and 45% of the male flowers in the orchard in 2013 were produced by the 1/3 of the clones (10 clones) in the orchard.It was established that each ramet belonging to the 30 clones in the seed orchard produced an average of 237 cones in 2012 and that 44% of the cone production was realized by 1/3 of the clones in the orchard. When the average values of cone features were examined, it was found that the cone width ranged between 30.73 mm (clone no 12081) and 33.34 mm (clone no 12071), the cone length ranged between 61.48 mm (clone no 12084) and 70.84 mm (clone no 12071), and the cone weight ranged between 23.02 gr (clone no 12070) and 30.07 gr ( clone no 12071). In 2012 and 2013, the clones numbered 12089, 12090, 12072, 12065 and 12079 were the top ten clones to produce the most female flowers. The clones numbered 12089, 12072, 12065 and 12090 were also among the top ten clones to produce the most cones.According to the average values relating to seed features in the seed orchard, it was found that the seed length ranged between 6.68 mm (clone no 12067) and 7.75 mm (clone no 12090), the seed width ranged between 4.36 mm (clone no 12065) and 4.88 mm (clone no 12068), the wing length ranged between 15.56 mm (clone no 12070) and 17.94 mm (clone no 12090), the wing width ranged between 7.09 mm (clone no 12074) and 8.33 mm (clone no 12090), the average number of seeds in a cone ranged between 24 (clone no 12073) and 39 (clone no 12083), and the average number of filled seeds in a cone ranged between 14 (clone no 12061) and 25 (clone no 12083).It was estimated that, in Gönen Anatolian Black Pine seed orchard, in year 2012, the broad-sense heritability of the number of male flowers, male inflorescences, the number of female flowers, the number of seeds, seed length, seed width, wing length, wing width, and cone length were 0.43, 0.56, 0.13, 0.16, 0.66, 0.57, 0.64, 0.68 and 0.22 respectively. The broad-sense heritability of other characters was not estimated. When the relations among the observed characters were examined, it was estimated that there were positive and highly genetic correlations between such growth elements as crown volume, branch length, height and diameter, and the number of male flowers, the number of male inflorescences, cone number and other growth traits in years 2012 and 2013. According to the observations and evaluations done during the first field studies carried out in Gönen Anatolian Black Pine seed orchard, it was seen that the orchard was not maintained regularly (living cover cleaning, tillage, etc.) and that there were many items under pressure because of the intensity of living cover in the field. Taking the effort, time, and expenses spent for the planting of the seed orchards into consideration, it is obvious that Gönen seed orchard and other seed orchards of forest tree species must be maintained regularly and properly. Gönen seed orchard regularly produces seeds every year, so it should be maintained by such methods as pruning, fertilizing, tillage, etc. in order to increase seed, cone and flower productivity and to achieve a better quality and abundance in seeds.