Evaluation of gene diversity and gain in Eucalyptus camaldulensis seed orchards of two generations

Mohan Varghese; Rathinam Kamalakannan; Poreyana Ganapathy Suraj

doi:10.15287/afr.2025.3877

Authors

Varghese ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5981-7072
Rathinam Kamalakannan ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre
Poreyana Ganapathy Suraj ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15287/afr.2025.3877

Keywords:

clonal seed orchard, fertility, provenance, breeding programme, progeny trial

Abstract

This paper is a comparative synthesis of the gene diversity and gain based on published results of two Eucalyptus camaldulensis breeding programmes (BP 1&2) in India. The dynamics and genetic gain of four first generation (F1) seedling seed orchards (SPA) of BP1 were compared with three second generation (F2) SPAs and two clonal seed orchards (CSO) of BP2. Three F₁ orchards (F₁ SPAs 1,3&4) of BP1 had low flowering (30%) and high fertility variation (sibling coefficient, Ψ = 5-11) whereas F₁ SPA2 had 73% fertile trees (Ψ = 2.27). No significant gain was obtained in BP1 when the four F₁SPA seed crops were evaluated at two locations in genetic gain trials - to estimate the gain obtained in comparison to native provenance and commercial clone checks.

For infusing improved seed from BP1 to BP2, three F₂SPAs were developed, of which two (F₂ SPA 1-2) were thinned genetic gain trials that incorporated bulked seed lots from four F₁ SPAs of BP1, and the third (F₂ SPA 3) originated from bulked seed of only one F₁SPA. Two clone trials of F1 progeny selections were converted to clonal seed orchards (F2 CSO 1&2). Flowering was low (26%) in the F₂ SPAs also with high fertility variation (Ψ, 9-14). The CSOs had high flowering (81%) but fertility was highly skewed in CSO2 (N_s = 2) compared to CSO1 (Ns = 11). The F₂SPAs 1&2, which originated from four F1 SPAs in genetic gain trials, had higher effective population size (N_s, 95 and 74) than the F₂ SPA3 (N_s = 39) and CSO_s, and better progeny performance than the native provenance at 3 years. CSO2 had the lowest gene diversity and survival than the other taxa. Genetic composition and fertility status of the orchards affected the performance and genetic diversity of progeny.

Author Biography

Varghese, ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre

Corresponding author

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