Abstract:

The first progeny test on 131 plus-tree progeny families of Fokienia hodginsii selected from Fujian Province and Hunan Province was carried out in State-owned Forest Farm of Yong'an, Fujian. The average seedling height and seedling base diameter at one-year-old were 31.73 cm and 4.05 mm respectively. With statistical methods,such as variance and correlation analysis, the genetic variations of F. hodginsii were studied based on the investigation of one-year-old seedling traits from different families. The results showed that there were abundant variations within F. hodginsii and very significant differences among families in seedling height and base diameter. The variations in seedling height were more than those in seedling base diameter which were mainly controlled by genetic factors. There were very significant correlations among seedling heights at different stages based on the average total seedling height every 15 days. Genetic correlation coefficient was a good index to reveal the relationship among traits. The net growth of seedling height showed great difference at different stages. Its value was small at early stage and reached peak from August 30 to September 15 and from October 30 to November 15. But the net growth of seedling base diameter showed little difference at different stages. Its value ranged from 0.17 mm to 0.22 mm every 15 days. According to the seedling height, 15 excellent families were preliminarily selected from 131 tested families. The average genetic gains of 15 excellent families'seedling height and base diameter were 30.00% and 10.12% respectively. The averages of 15 excellent families'seedling height and base diameter were 42.1 cm and 4.7 mm respectively. The selection effect was very striking.

Key words: Fokienia hodginsii, Plus tree, Seedling stage, Genetic variation, Growth rhythm