Assessing 62 Chinese Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) Breeding Parents in a 12-Year Grafted Clone Test

Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) is one of the major commercial conifer species in China. The present study concentrated on the assessment of growth, wood property traits, and strobili number in a 12-year grafted clone test of 62 Chinese fir breeding parents, aiming to describe the variation and correlations between these traits and to identify parent clones with the highest potential for future breeding. The results indicate that all of the growth (height, diameter at breast height, stem volume, crown-width) and wood property (wood basic density and hygroscopicity) traits varied significantly (p < 0.01) among clones, with coefficients of variation ranging from 7.6% to 30.6%. Furthermore, these traits consistently had a moderate to high (0.39–0.87) repeatability estimate (broad-sense heritability). Remarkable clonal differences were also observed for the production of male and female strobili. Phenotypic correlations among growth traits were strong (p < 0.01) and positive. Significantly negative correlations (p < 0.01 or 0.05) were found between wood basic density and growth (except for height) and hygroscopicity. The production of male and female strobili appeared to be significantly (p < 0.01) positively correlated with each other. A notable number of faster-growing parent clones were identified (n = 30); 11 of these had higher density wood with an average realized gain of 10.5% in diameter, and a 5.4% gain in wood basic density. When selection was made for growth and strobili, 10 faster-growing parent clones with medium to high production of female strobili were identified. OPEN ACCESS Forests 2015, 6 3800