Observations were made on six grafts for each of 25 clones in three Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seed orchards in Turkey. The characters studied were number of female and male strobili, height below and above the longest branch, total height; diameter at base and breast height, crown diameter, and number of branches. Variation, broad-sense heritability (H 2 ) and correlations between characters were estimated.Variation among clones was lower than among grafts within clone for all characters. The genetic variation for number of strobili varied between 0 and 17% of total variation, while that for growth characters values varied between 2 and 13%. The number of female strobili appeared more variable among trees than the number of male strobili. H 2 was not consistently high for any character or seed orchard. The number of strobili increased with the size of the tree, but not dramatically. Correlations between measures of tree size (both on clone level and individual graft level) and the number of strobili were in the magnitude r % 0.3. Diameter at breast height seems a reasonable predictor for number of strobili.

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There are many environmental and biological factors on forestry practices as known. Aspect called as slope faces is one of the most important environmental factors in these practices because of its easy application for managers. Fertility variation defined as an individual ability to give progeny and gene diversity estimated based on effective number of parents were investigated as the proportion of numbers of cones counted from individuals in natural stands sampled aspectual of Taurus cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich.) for three consecutive years. The averages of cone number were 19.4, 47.2, and 75.5 for the years. It was the highest in flat (23.5) for 2013, in south (92.1) for 2014, and in flat (95.7) for 2015, while it was lowest in south (16.3), in east (18.2), and in north (39.4) for the years, respectively. Significant correlations (p ≤ 0.01) were estimated among years for cone production in polled aspect. Estimated fertility variations changed for the years and stands. It could be generally acceptable level for typical natural stands except of west of 2014. Fertility variations were 1.55, 3.05, and 1.64 in polled stands for the years. Gene diversity was 0.99 for the years in polled stands. North aspect could be taken into consideration in establishment and selection of seed sources and gene conservation areas based on fertility variation and gene diversity.

Aim of study: to find out the effects of four phytohormones, including Indole Butyric Acid (IBA), Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), and Gibberellic acids (GA3, GA4) on seedling growth of Hungarian oak which has a natural distribution in the northwestern of Turkey.Area of Study: Mature acorns of Hungarian oak were collected from a natural stand in Zonguldak-Ereğli at northwestern region of Turkey.Material and Methods: Collected acorns of the species were pretreated with 300 ppm of each phytohormone for 24 hours and sown in Yenihan State Forest Nursery of Bartin, Turkey. Two years old bare-root seedlings were used for the measurements of seedling height, root collar diameter, stem, root and seedling fresh weights, and stem, root and seedling dry weights of two bare-root seedlings for each phytohormone treatment.Main results: Best performance of all studied seedling traits with the exception of root collar diameter was revealed in seedlings with IBA. In contrast, treatment of seeds with GA3 reduced all seedling traits apart from seedling height and root collar diameter. According to Dickson quality index, IBA was displayed to be the most beneficial phytohormone application for generating Hungarian oak seedlings with better mechanical resistance during transplanting.Research Highlights: IBA should be adopted in planting the seedlings of Hungarian oak for plantation activities.

Fertility (number of strobili) was investigated in six natural populations over three ranges of altitudes (215-960 m) in Brutian pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) for two consecutive years. The fertility and fertility variation varied among populations and years. The average of strobilus production varied between 173 and 269 in female, and between 533 and 1,060 in male, respectively. The fertility variation did not seem closely related to the altitude, and it was not consistently dependent on the richness of strobilus production. Positive significant correlations were found between female and male strobilus production for all populations and years. Coefficient of variation in strobilus production among individual trees varied between 0.638 and 0.838 for female; and between 0.603 and 0.809 for male when flowering assessments were combined. The clone fertility variations among trees were slightly different among all six stands (sibling coefficient ranged from 1.354 to 1.525) and it is unlikely that trees in typical stands vary extremely in reproductive success.

The living conditions of living beings are becoming ever more difficult due to the climate change caused by industrialization. Forests, which have a great importance in terms of natural resources, are one of the main elements which prevent this situation. Therefore, it is important to ensure the sustainability of forests and to increase their genetic and structural quality. Appropriate farms and clonal seed orchards should be established with the purpose of achieving this genetic diversity. This way, quantitative traits of clones, which are located in these seed orchards, depending on their growth performance, the cone yield can be determined. In this study, the best clones in terms of cone yield were determined through MAUT and WASPAS methods, which are some of the multiple criteria decision-making techniques. This was done by using the height and diameter measurements of 30 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) clones selected according to random sampling method in 3 different blocks in Erzurum region. Based on the sum product assessment and multi-attribute utility theory model results, clones 22 and 29 were determined as superior and prospective for further breeding procedures in terms of seedling height and root collar diameter. According to the entropy method, the maximum weights for seedling height and root collar diameter were obtained in Block-3 with 0.580175 and in Block-1 with 0.590017, respectively. Contribution/Originality:This study plays important role in selecting the best clones in terms of cone yield through MAUT and WASPAS methods, which are some of the multiple criteria decision-making techniques.

Tree height, basal diameter, and survival were examined in thirteen-year-old provenance test established by 30 seed sources of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) at two exotic sites of the species in Southern part of Turkey. Variations within provenance and among provenances and relations among the traits were estimated to compare Scots pine provenance and two other native species. Averages of tree height and basal diameter were 350 cm and 52.7 mm in Aydogmus site and 385 cm and 51.2 mm in Kemer site, respectively. There were large differences within and among provenances for the characters. Sites were similar (p > 0.05) for the characters, while there were significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among provenances within site according to results of variance analysis (ANOVA). Scots pine provenances were higher and had more thickness than that of black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) and Taurus cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich.) which were natural species of the region. There were positive and significant (p < 0.05) correlations between height and basal diameter in the species. Average survivals were 56% and 35% of the provenances in the sites. They were 71% and 11% in black pine and 53% in Taurus cedar for the sites respectively.

This study was carried out to compare quality and morphology in 1+0 year containerized seedlings of Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) originating from a seed stand and a seed orchard based on height and root-collar diameter. Averages of seedling height and root-collar diameter were 13.8 cm and 2.63 mm in orchard seedlings, while they were 14.8 cm and 4.56 mm in stand seedlings, respectively. There were significant differences (p≤0.05) between seed sources for the characters according to result of ANOVA. Stand seedlings were better quality than that of orchard seedlings according to quality classification of Turkish Standard Institute. Positive and significant (p≤0.05) relations were found between the characters in both seed sources based on results of correlation analysis. Results of the study were discussed for nursery practices, plantation forestry, and genetic-breeding of the species.