Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) has a high ecological and social value and supplies raw materials for the cork industry, a relevant contributor to the economies of Mediterranean countries. Understanding the adaptation potential of cork oak populations to cope with different environmental conditions is a key issue of forest management, particularly for selecting the most adapted genetic material for (re)forestation and assuring the long-term sustainability of the cork industry. Intraspecific variation in fitness surrogate traits (survival, height and stem diameter) was investigated in thirty-five cork oak populations sampled from the entire range of the natural distribution of the species. The study was conducted in two provenance field trials, established in Portugal under different edaphoclimatic conditions. Each trial was surveyed at four tree ages (two ages, 11 and 14 years, were sampled simultaneously in both trials). The trial located at a lower altitude, which had higher mean winter and annual temperatures, exhibited higher growth and survival rates. In both trials, significant genetic variation among cork oak populations was observed for the analyzed traits and evaluated ages. Moroccan populations displayed a higher probability of survival and higher growth rates, while local populations exhibited an intermediate performance. Low to moderate correlations were found between the analyzed traits and the environmental variables of seed origin, suggesting that factors other than climate are likely to be relevant for cork oak adaptation. Moderate to high values of population mean-basis broad-sense heritability (H 2 ≥ 0.44) and high genetic correlations between traits (0.88-0.95) were found for growth traits. This information is crucial for the establishment of a breeding program for the species. With this study, we have improved the knowledge regarding how cork oak performs for fitness surrogate traits in different environments.
The international network of provenance and progeny trials was established in 1998 benefiting from homogeneous plant raising and standardize experimental design. The trials include 34 provenances that are being characterised by several teams. France 2008. Provenance PT 23 and PT+ES 25 had the lowest survival rate. In 2008 the mean height was 48.73 cm and the form keeps plagiotropic. Italy-Sardinia, 2010-The average mortality was 7%. Mean height and trunk DBH over cork were respectively 273 and 5.1 cm. MO I-2, TU II, ES 4-CR are above mean on height (302-309 cm), and the Italian provenances are under mean (237-249cm). Italy-Roccarespampani, Lazio-The mortality is about 45% and it is the only plantation site where the French provenance FR3 has a growth above mean. Portugal. Results show significant differences among populations on survival and growth. The Moroccan provenances show good adaptive characteristics in terms of growth, vigour and stem form. Italian provenances present lower height but higher survival. The overall mortality is around 26%. The highest growth is being observed in the Moroccan provenances and French ones showed lowest survival. Provenances and plantation sites are characterised for rainfall regime. The provenances Morocco MA27 and Tunisia TU33 that are from sites of high rainfall are among the best on growth at sites of considerable more xerothermic climate. If persistent at older age these results indicate that fast adaptation of cork oak populations to cope with climate changes leading to drier and warmer conditions seems possible.
Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is a valuable forest species in the western Mediterranean Basin due to its ecological value and the production of cork (a renewable natural material). Cork quality depends on the genetic background and cork oak environment, which has long been recognized. As no cork oak genetic trials with pedigree information were available, the inference of the genetic relatedness between individuals from molecular markers can potentially be applied to natural populations. This work aimed to investigate the potential of performing kinship prediction and pedigree reconstruction by SNP genotyping a natural cork oak population. A total of 494 trees located in Portugal were genotyped with 8K SNPs. The raw SNP set was filtered differently, producing four SNP sets that were further filtered by missing data, genotype frequency, and minor allele frequency. For each set, an identity by descent (IBD) matrix was generated to perform the relationship prediction, revealing from 22,114 to 23,859 relationships. Familial categories from the first to the third degree were able to be assigned. The feasibility of SNP genotyping for future studies on the kinship analysis and pedigree reconstruction of cork oak populations was demonstrated. The information produced may be used in further breeding and conservation programs for cork oak.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.