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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2026, Vol. 62 ›› Issue (8): 144-157.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.LYKX20250784

• Research papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Multi-trait Comprehensive Evaluation of Drought Tolerance in Poplar Hybrid Progeny Using MGIDI and FAI-BLUP Index

Mingrong Cao,Zhenyuan Zhou,Dongxu Jia,Chenggong Liu,Qinjun Huang,Jinhua Li*()   

  1. Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding Beijing 100091
  • Received:2025-12-28 Revised:2026-04-27 Online:2026-08-10 Published:2026-08-20
  • Contact: Jinhua Li E-mail:lijinh@caf.ac.cn

Abstract:

Objective: Drought is a major abiotic stress that severely limits the growth and yield of poplar plantations. In this study, the progenies derived from the cross between Populus simonigra and P. nigra were used as the experimental materials to evaluate drought tolerance performance with their seedling-stage drought stress trials, and screen superior genotypes, so as to provide candidate materials and a theoretical basis for drought-tolerance breeding in poplar. Method: A total of 145 hybrid progenies derived from the female parent (P. simonigra cl. ‘ZL-3’) and the male parent (P. nigra cl. ‘N188’) were subjected to two water regimes: normal-watering (NW) and drought-stress (LW) in greenhouse with a pot experiment. Growth, photosynthesis, leaf morphology, stomatal characteristics, and root system architecture were measured, and the drought-tolerance index (LWindex) was calculated. A mixed linear model was employed to estimate genetic parameters and breeding values for each trait via restricted maximum likelihood/best linear unbiased prediction (REML/BLUP). Furthermore, the three advanced multi-trait selection strategies of FAI (factor analysis and genotype-ideotype distance index)-BLUP, MGIDI (multi-trait genotype-ideotype distance index)_BLUP, and MGIDI_LWindex were implemented to comprehensively evaluate and rank the drought tolerance of the hybrid progeny. Result: All measured traits were significantly affected by drought stress. Genetic parameter analysis revealed that growth and root traits exhibited high heritability, while leaf morphology, photosynthetic, and stomatal traits showed relatively low heritability. Based on these results, nine core traits were selected for multi-trait evaluation: three growth traits (D2, H2, DS), four root traits (RDW, TRL, RSA, AD), and two photosynthetic parameters (TR, WUE). Under a selection intensity (SI) of 25%, 36 superior genotypes were identified and selected from the progeny based on the three multi trait indices (FAI-BLUP, MGIDI_BLUP, and MGIDI_LWindex) using BLUP value and LWindex. The selection gain (SG) for their growth traits ranged 7.916%–12.172%, 8.907%–13.672%, and 4.331%–22.058% with the three strategies, respectively. Among them, four genotypes (E4-148, E4-410, E4-79, and E4-371) were consistently selected by all three methods. Notably, the traits related to biomass accumulation and the drought tolerance index exhibited higher selection differentials (SD) and SG, indicating that these traits can be used as key evaluation indicators for drought tolerance screening in poplar. Conclusion: The drought-tolerant genotypes of the hybrid progeny screened in this study provide new candidate materials for selection and breeding drought-tolerant poplar. The multi-trait index methods of FAI-BLUP and MGIDI have demonstrated high selection efficiency in the comprehensive evaluation of drought tolerance. These approaches offer robust methodological support for screening drought-tolerant genotypes and lay a foundation for further dissecting the genetic mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in poplar.

Key words: Populus simonigra, drought tolerance coefficient, BLUP, Multi-trait index selection, FAI-BLUP, MGIDI

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