ARE THERE ANY ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN EMBRYOGENIC CAPACITY AND PHENOLOGICAL TRAITS IN 2 POPULATIONS OF PICEA-ABIES

Associations between embryogenic capacity of mature zygotic embryos and phenological traits in 6-year-old plants originating from the same open-pollinated families of Picea abies (L.) Karst. were investigated. Two populations were used, which were located in southern and western Sweden and represented by 11 and 12 families, respectively. The seed collection was made in 1977. Embryogenic cultures were initiated by culturing 30 isolated embryos from each family on induction medium. After 2 and 3 months the initiation and proliferation capacity were scored. After 4 months the somatic embryos were stimulated to mature by transferring them to a maturation medium. Phenology was assessed on plants raised from seeds from the same open-pollinated families during their sixth growing season in a nursery trial. For each population five phenological traits including timing of bud flushing and bud set, and two embryogenic traits were selected for association analysis. There was significant variation between individual families of both populations in embryogenic capacity (although all families were capable of initiating embryogenic tissue) and in phenology. The association between the two types of traits was examined by using Fisher's exact test for contingency tables. The results showed no proof of any association between the embryogenic traits and the phenological traits.