Five Year Results of Loblolly Pine Geographic Seed Source Tests

Foresters have long been interested in extending the use of rapid growing southern pines northward as a means of achieving increased growth in volume and quality. They have also been interested in seeking within the range of loblolly pine those races which would achieve similar objectives. Little information was available on this subject when Tennessee Valley Authority in 1950 decided to experiment with some of the many seedlots planted in its nurseries from widely separated collection points. It seemed like a good opportunity to initiate tests that would provide more specific information on significant variations of plantings of different seed sources in different locations and in the same location. The test is fully described in the Appendix of TVA Technical Note 14, which was developed as a project of the Southern Forest Tree Improvement Committee on Testing Tree Progeny (4). Essentially, the plan called for testing nine seed sources at eight locations, ranging from central Alabama to Illinois and from Arkansas to the South Carolina Piedmont, as shown in Figure 1. Three blocks were established in each locality, representing complete replications. Within each block, seedlings from the various sources were assigned at random to nine plots.

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Author(s): E. G. Wiesehuegel

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1955