Multi-trait genomic selection for weevil resistance, growth, and wood quality in Norway spruce.

ABSTRACT: Plantation-grown trees have to cope with an increasing pressure of pest and disease in the context of climate change, and breeding approaches using genomics may offer efficient and flexible tools to face this pressure. In the present study, we targeted genetic improvement of resistance of an introduced conifer species in Canada, Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), to the native white pine weevil (Pissodes strobi Peck). We developed single- and multi-trait genomic selection (GS) models and selection indices considering the relationships between weevil resistance, intrinsic wood quality, and growth traits. Weevil resistance, acoustic velocity as a proxy for mechanical wood stiffness, and average wood density showed moderate-to-high heritability and low genotype-by-environm

SUBMITTER: Lenz PRN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6935592 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature