Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) · 2000 · 32 citations · 0 references
Life SciencesGeneticsPlant SciencesPlant GeneticsQuantitative GeneticsStatistical GeneticsCrop PhenotypingGenetic ParametersHeritabilityPlant Breeding GeneticsAdditive Genetic CorrelationAdditive Genetic CovarianceAdditive Genetic VarianceGenetic Parameter EstimationGenetic Parameters EstimationHeritability Of Wood PropertiesNarrow-sense HeritabilityPlant-environment Interactions
Univariate and multivariate Restricted Maximum Likelihood procedures were applied to estimate (co)variance components and related genetic parameters for diameter growth, pilodyn penetration and spiral grain in Picea abies. The data are from 15 to 18-year-old progeny tests, comprising cross- and open-pollinated families. Narrow-sense heritabilities ranged between 0.09 and 0.27 for diameter, 0.18 and 0.36 for raw pilodyn readings, and 0.29 and 0.47 for spiral grain. Adjusting raw pilodyn readings to a common diameter, by means of covariance analysis, improved the heritability (ranging from 0.30 to 0.62) of the indirect measure of wood density. The additive genetic correlations between growth and the wood properties were adverse, being less marked between diameter and spiral grain. Pilodyn showed low and favourable additive genetic correlations with spiral grain. Reasonably strong genotype by environment interactions were found for diameter but not for the wood properties, giving some support for an environmental zonation of the breeding programme.