Genetical Research

Table of Contents - 1979 - Volume 33, Issue 03  

Research Article

Genetic aspects of fertility differentials in ponderosa pine

Yan B. Linharta1, J. B. Mittona1, D. M. Bowmana1, K. B. Sturgeona1 and J. L. Hamricka2

a1 Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, U.S.A.

a2 Department of Botany and Systematics and Ecology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044, U.S.A.

Abstract

There is a strong genetic component to fertility differentials among individuals of ponderosa pine. Prolific cone-producers as a group were markedly different from low cone-producers at the three protein loci which were monitored. The two groups did not differ significantly in age, but trees with high cone production had slower growth rates and smaller diameters than trees with low cone production. To our knowledge, these results provide the first demonstration of fertility differentials associated with specific genes in a woody plant.

(Received December 21 1978)

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