| Abstract: | Abstract The economic potential of 35 seed lots from Danish landraces of Nordmann fir [Abies nordmanniana (Stev.) Spach.] and seven imported provenances were evaluated for high-value Christmas tree production over a full rotation at six locations in Denmark. Naturally grown Christmas trees were evaluated and no leader length control or trimming of the side branches was allowed, but only simple cutting of double terminal leaders. Seed source as well as site strongly affected the economic revenue. Average net sales price per planted tree ranged over sites from €2.43 to €6.64, and among provenances from €1.38 to €7.06 with an average of €4.95. Changes in prices and grading as seen under cycling market conditions seemed not to affect the economic ranking of the better part of the provenances, whereas discounting the net sales income caused moderate rank changes, reflecting differences in rotation time. Limited seed source by site interactions were present and mainly caused by the slowest growing sources. Among the Danish domesticated seed sources of mostly unknown origin several were as suitable as the tested imported sources. In general, the Danish sources were faster growing than imports, although very large variation was present. |
