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Re-examining breeding zones of white spruce in northwestern Ontario, Canada

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Abstract

Under a changing climate, tree improvement programs should revise breeding zones to improve climate change adaptation and program efficiency once information about adaptive capacity of breeding populations and genotype × environment (G × E) interaction becomes available. In this study, we evaluated the adaptation and growth, as well as G × E interactions, shown by white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) open-pollinated (OP) families across two adjacent breeding zones (i.e., the BZ3300 and BZ4300, respectively) in northwestern Ontario using progeny test data, including 80 OP families (40 from each) that were cross-tested between the breeding zones. Results showed that the OP families from the southerly BZ4300 breeding zone averaged higher survival and significantly greater mean tree height growth than the local OP families in the more northern BZ3300 breeding zone at tree age of 14 years, with no notable difference in frost damage. Estimates of type-B genetic correlation from pairwise tests or combined-test analyses were almost all greater than 0.7, suggesting weak G × E interactions. Greater variation among families and higher heritability estimates in tree height were observed for families from the BZ3300 breeding zone or when families from the two breeding zones were combined. The weak G × E interactions, in addition to better survival and growth of the southerly families in the more northern breeding zone, suggested benefits from deploying seed from current seed orchard in the BZ4300 breeding zone to the BZ3300 breeding zone and merging the two breeding zones when starting the second generation breeding to increase tree improvement efficiency and likely higher genetic gain under future climate.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Janet Lane with the Domtar for assistance with trial establishment; and Holly Aggas with the Domtar, Karen Carpenter with the Dryden Forest Management Co. Ltd and Robert Partridge with the Red Lake Forest Management Co. for assistance with trial maintenance and measurement. The Ontario Living Legacy Trust (OLLT) funded trial establishment and the Ontario Forestry Futures Trust (OFFT) funded trial measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, 419 East College Street, Nacogdoches, TX, 75962, USA

    Yuhui Weng

  2. Superior-Woods Tree Improvement Association, Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada

    Paul Charrette

  3. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario Forest Research Institute, 1235 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, P6A 2E5, Canada

    Pengxin Lu

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  1. Yuhui Weng
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  2. Paul Charrette
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  3. Pengxin Lu
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Correspondence to Pengxin Lu.

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Weng, Y., Charrette, P. & Lu, P. Re-examining breeding zones of white spruce in northwestern Ontario, Canada. New Forests 50, 845–858 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-9692-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-9692-y

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