Inbreeding depression in Eucalyptus clones
Odair Bison, Aurélio Mendes Aguiar, Gabriel Dehon Sampaio Peçanha Rezende, and Magno Antonio Patto Ramalho
Most Eucalyptus plantations are developed from clones. The inbreeding depression estimate allows plant breeders to plan their breeding programs more accurately. To obtain information concerning inbreeding depression, 10 clones were inbred. The clonal (F1) and the inbred generation (F2) were evaluated in two contiguous experiments carried out in Aracruz, Espirito Santo, Brazil. A randomized complete block design with one-tree plots and 40 replicates was applied in both experiments. The experiments were installed in August 2001 and evaluated two years later. The inbreeding depression varied among the clones and was in average 17.5% for the circumference at breast height and 4.0% for the wood basic density. In most cases it was possible to select F2 generation trees with a better performance than their (F1) parents, indicating this strategy as promising for breeders to select superior plants.