Genetic parameter estimates for growth traits from diallel tests of loblolly pine throughout the southeastern United States

Variation in heritability and in genetic correlation estimates were evaluated for juvenile tree height and volume for six testing areas of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) in the southeastern United States. Variance components and their functions (heritability and type B genetic correlations) were estimated from 265 six-parent disconnected diallel series, tested in almost 1000 trials (4 tests per diallel series). Original data were collected at age 6 years from about one million trees (265 diallel series x 30 crosses x 36 trees per cross/site x 4 sites) planted in field tests. Genetic tests were from the second cycle of breeding in the North Carolina State University - Industry Cooperative Tree Improvement Program. The overall unbiased individual-tree narrow-sense heritability for height was 0.19 and for volume was 0.16. The broad-sense heritabilities for height (0.24) and for volume (0.22) were higher than narrow-sense heritabilities due to the presence of non-additive genetic variance. There were moderate regional differences in these estimates, with tests in the Lower Gulf Coastal Plain tending to have the highest heritabilities for growth traits. There was very little association between site index and heritability, but heritabilities were higher on sites with the highest survival and highest test precision. Genotype x environment interactions were generally low both for half-sib and full-sib families, indicating that families can be operationally deployed to different sites with little concern about unpredictable performance.