Plant, Animal & Microbe Genomes X Conference

January 12-16, 2002
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Poster: Forest Trees
            

QUANTITATIVE TRAIT ANALYSES FOR ADAPTIVE TRAITS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL ELICITORS IN A THREE-GENERATION PEDIGREE OF DOUGLAS-FIR

¹ Institute of Forest Genetics, USDA-FS, 2480 Carson Road, Placerville, CA, 95667,USA

² Weyerhaeuser Company, PO Box 420, Centralia, WA, 98531, USA

³ Institute of Forest Genetics, USDA-FS, Department of Environmental Horticulture, UC Davis, Davis, CA, 95619, USA

The environmental factors affecting bud phenology differ across latitudinal, altitudinal and geographical clines, making it important to understand the interaction among them and the traits they induce. Environmental factors include winter chill, spring heat sum, photoperiod and moisture deficit. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis was used to identify factors responsive to environmental cues that influence the timing of adaptive traits in Douglas-fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii [Mirb] Franco). Clonally replicated progeny of a large three-generation out-crossed family (n = 435) were subjected to different chilling and heat sums in a 2 x 3 factorial experiment before measuring the timing of spring bud flush. In a second experiment, growth cessation traits were evaluated under different photoperiod and moisture treatments in a 2 x 2 factorial design. In both experiments, treatments were replicated and clonal means were calculated for use in analyses. Several statistical methods are being utilized for estimation of QTLs.