Inheritance of basic density and microfibril angle and their variations among full-sib families and their parental clones in Picea glehnii

Abstract

Abstract Picea glehnii is one of the most important plantation species in Hokkaido, Japan. Basic density (BD) and microfibril angle (MFA) of the S2 layer in latewood tracheid in 16 full-sib families and their six parental clones planted in Hokkaido were examined to clarify among-family and clonal variations of wood properties and their inheritance from parents to offspring. Mean values of BD and MFA in full-sib families and parental clones were 0.36 and 0.35 g cm-3 and 16.1° and 10.7°, respectively. Estimated repeatabilities of BD and MFA in juvenile wood (jW) were higher than those in mature wood. In addition, larger genetic coefficient of variation was detected for jW, indicating that improvement of jW properties is important to Hokkaido’s tree breeding program. Parent-offspring correlation coefficients were positive and significant in all properties. These results suggest that the influence of parental clones on wood properties is inheritable to offspring. Moreover, there were no significant differences between reciprocal crosses of wood properties, suggesting that plus-tree clones with good wood properties can be used as either female or male parents for producing offspring. There is a possibility of improving wood properties in P. glehnii by crossing clones with desirable properties.