| Abstract: | The amount of additive genetic and environmental variance for tree height and field survival, and the genetic relationship between the traits were estimated using data from half-sib progenies of Swedish and Finnish Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) plus-trees, assessed in 18 single-tree plot progeny trials. The progeny trials were established in northern Sweden and comprised 9-13-yr-old, Finnish polycross progenies or Swedish open-pollinated progenies. In total across the trials, 71?630 individual trees from 888 families were included in the study. At the overall level, the additive genetic coefficient of variation ranged between 3.1 and 16.3% for height and between 0 and 27.9% for survival, with averages of 9.5% and 14.2%, respectively. Narrow-sense heritabilities were moderate to low, with averages across trials of 0.11 for height and 0.06 for survival. At the within-population level, estimates of genetic correlation between height and survival were mostly large and positive, with an arithmetic mean and standard error across trials of 0.47±0.39. |
