Genotype–Environment Interaction and Horizontal and Vertical Distributions of Heartwood for Acacia melanoxylon R.Br

Abstract

Acacia melanoxylon (blackwood) is a valuable wood with excellent-quality heartwood extensively utilized worldwide. The main aim of this study was to confirm the horizontal and vertical variation and provide estimated values of genetic gains and clonal repeatabilities for improving breeding program of A. melanoxylon. Six blackwood clones at 10 years old were analyzed in Heyuan and Baise cities in China. Stem trunk analysis was conducted for sample trees to explore the differences between heartwood and sapwood. The heartwood radius (HR), heartwood area (HA), and heartwood volume (HV) in heartwood properties decreased as tree height (H) in growth traits increased, and the HV = 1.2502 DBH (diameter at breast height)1.7009 model can accurately estimate the heartwood volume. Furthermore, G × E analysis showed that the heritabilities of the eleven indices, including DBH, DGH (diameter at ground height), H, HR, SW (sapwood width), BT (bark thickness), HA, SA (sapwood area), HV, HRP (heartwood radius percentage), HAP (heartwood area percentage), and HVP (heartwood volume percentage) were between 0.94 and 0.99, and repeatabilities of the eleven indices were between 0.74 and 0.91. Clonal repeatability of DBH (0.91), DGH (0.88), and H (0.90) in growth traits, HR (0.90), HVP (0.90), and HV (0.88) in heartwood properties were slightly higher than for SA (0.74), SW (0.75), HAP (0.75), HRP (0.75), and HVP (0.75). These data also implied that the growth characteristics of heartwood and sapwood of blackwood clones were less affected by the environment and had substantial heritability.

Correction: Zhang et al. Genotype–Environment Interaction and Horizontal and Vertical Distributions of Heartwood for Acacia melanoxylon R.Br. Genes 2023, 14, 1299

“…In the original publication [1], there were several mistakes in the legend for DBH and DGH data shown in Tables 1, 6 and 7. We removed the incorrect data in Table 1 and kept the correct data of the published raw data.…”

Selection of Reference Genes for Gene Expression Analysis in Acacia melanoxylon under Different Conditions

“…It belongs to the short and medium management cycle tree species with a primary cutting cycle of 13 to 16 years in South China. Its heartwood is synthesized at an early growth stage, earlier than most other precious tree species [6]. Based on the characteristics of fast growth rate, high proportion of heartwood, and moderate wood density [4], A. melanoxylon is expected to be a model for studying heartwood formation in precious tree species.…”