Potential Height Gain from Selection in a Five-Year-Old White Oak Progeny Test

Abstract

Abstract A progeny test of Quercus alba L. was established in spring 1984 at 3 locations using 70 open-pollinated families of 1-0 seedlings representing midwestern acorn collections from 15 stands. Most sources of variation in the combined-location ANOVA of 5-yr height data were statistically significant. The among-location variance component was the single largest in this analysis, accounting for 62.9% of total variance. The interaction of families and locations, an estimate of genotype X environment interaction, accounted for 1.7% of total variance. Although the family-within-stand variance component was also low (2.3 %), the narrow-sense heritability for height was estimated to be 0.36 ± 0.22. Expected gains in tree height from early selection of the tallest trees in the fastest growing families were estimated at 30% at age 5. On the basis of these results, additional research efforts in white oak improvement may be warranted. South. J. Appl. For. 19(1):10-13.