Genetic diversity of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) seed orchard crops: Effects of number of parents, seed year, and pollen contamination
2018
Abstract Seed from
orchards, established from breeding programs, often dominate the planting stock in economically important tree species, such as Norway spruce. The
genetic diversityin
seed orchards’ crops depends on
effective population sizewhich in turn is affected by many factors such as: number of parents in the
orchard,
seed orchards’ design, fecundity, and pollen contamination. Even though
seed orchards’ seed is extensively used over large regions, very few studies have addressed how well their crops reflect the
genetic diversitypresent in the regions where they are planted. Here we have investigated the
genetic diversity(by means of 11 microsatellites) of two Norway spruce
seed orchardpopulations with different number of parents (60 and 25) and compared this with seed crops collected in the semi natural forest and natural unmanaged populations. We found that the ratio between the
effective population size(N e ) and actual number of parents (N) varied between 0.60 and 0.76 in the
orchards’ seedlots. A reduction in
genetic diversity(mainly allelic richness) was detected in a few seedlots, mainly where the number of parents was low. Our results also show that pollen contamination play an important role in maintaining the
genetic diversityin
orchards’ seedlots, particularly when the number of parents is low. The population genetic structure among seed orhcards and natural populations is shallow suggesting that regeneration with seed from current
seed orchardswill have limited effect on the overall
genetic diversity.
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