Canadian Forest Service Publications
Comparison of early height growth between white spruce seedlings and rooted cuttings. 2006. Beaulieu, J.; Bernier-Cardou, M. Can. J. For. Res. 36: 3246–3250.
Year: 2006
Issued by: Laurentian Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 26999
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1139/X06-170
† This site may require a fee
Abstract
Early height growth of eastern white spruce (Picea glauca) Voss) rooted cuttings was compared with that of seedlings using annual measurements collected over 5 years in a farm field test replicated on three sites. The experiment included 148 full-sib families obtained from controlled crossings of superior trees selected for a white spruce breeding population in Quebec. Fifteen additional seedlots were used as controls. The average growth rate of seedlings (37.3 cm-year-1) was slighly larger than that of rooted cuttings (36.2 cm-year-1). The yearly growth rate increased over the test period, and it did so at a somewhat higher rate for the seedlings. The relative size of the estimated variance components and the moderate rank correlations of full-sib family height growth features between the two propagule types suggest that tree breeders should favour seedlings over rooted cuttings to rank families for selection purposes, but vegetative propagation would prove useful for bulking yp scarce valuable genotypes.