Genetic diversity and background pollen contamination in Norway spruce and Scots pine seed orchard crops.

ABSTRACT: Seed orchards are the key link between tree breeding and production forest for conifer trees. In Sweden, Scots pine and Norway spruce seed orchards currently supply ca. 85% of seedlings used in annual reforestation. The functionality of these seed orchards is thus crucial for supporting long-term production gain and sustainable diversity. We conducted a large-scale genetic investigation of pine and spruce orchards across Sweden using genotyping-by-sequencing. We genotyped 3,300 seedlings/trees from six orchards and 10 natural stands to gain an overview of mating structure and genetic diversity in orchard crops. We found clear differences in observed heterozygosity (H _O) and background pollen contamination (BPC) rates between species, with pine orchard crops showing higher

SUBMITTER: Heuchel A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11524256 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature