Early selection of black spruce using physiological and morphological criteria
1993
Sulzer, A.M. | Greenwood, M.S. | Livingston, W.H. | Adams, Gavin
A retrospective test of 36 half-sib black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) families was initiated using surplus seed from the same families growing in six 10-year-old test plantations in New Brunswick. Height, diameter, cold hardiness, gas exchange rates, chlorophyll content, and leaf weight/leaf area ratios of the 3-year-old greenhouse-grown seedlings were determined and related to 10-year field height. The variables that correlated most highly with height at age 10 were seedling height (r = 0.491) and diameter (r = 0.441). Seedling cold hardiness was significantly correlated with both 3-year (r = -0.508) and 10-year height (r = -0.337), the better growing families being more cold hardy. Although photosynthesis and the ratio of photosynthesis to transpiration (a measure of "instantaneous" water use efficiency) were correlated with seedling height, neither of these measures showed a significant relationship with height at age 10. The potential usefulness of both physiological and morphological parameters for early testing purposes is discussed.
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