Evaluation of silver fir provenances at 51 years of age in provenance trials in the Předhoří Hrubý Jeseník and Nízký Jeseník Mts. regions, Czech Republic

Abstract

In 2021, measurements were done at two international provenance research trials for silver fir originating from the same series of experiments. The investigation was carried out in the location Vítkov and Úsov, where both trials were established. Biometric data (tree height, diameter at breast height) were measured and qualitative traits (stem shape, occurrence of stem forking, stem damage, bark pattern, and defoliation) were assessed during the early mature stage of the experiment. Overbark stem volume and per-hectare standing volume were also calculated. Sixty-five provenances of domestic and foreign origin were evaluated in both trials. Although the results do not indicate unequivocally the most suitable or most productive provenance in the trials, provenances of Czech origin including the ones originating from the surrounding natural forest areas perform consistently better than the average. The least productive provenances, on the other hand, were those from parts of Bulgaria, Austria, and especially Italy, which achieved the poorest results even in stem shape. In Czech conditions, therefore, Italian fir provenances have not proved so successful as they have in the United Kingdom.