ADAPTABILITY Project Description
Workpackage 1
Workpackage 1.1
Workpackage 1.2
Workpackage 1.3
Workpackage 1.4
Workpackage 1.5


Workpackage 2
Workpackage 2.1
Workpackage 2.2
Workpackage 2.3


Workpackage 3
Workpackage 3.1
Workpackage 3.2


Workpackage 4
Workpackage 4.1
Workpackage 1.3.
How fast can Norway spruce adapt to different climatic conditions?
Start date: 1st month Partners responsible: NISK
Completion date: 36th month Other partners involved
 
Objectives
  1. To test the how well the first generation of offspring from stands planted with transferred spruce provenances is adapted to the new environment, i.e. how fast new land races develop
  2. To describe and quantify the effects of early selection for cold hardiness in the autumn on traits related to the synchronisation of growth and dormancy with seasonal changes in temperature
  3. To test whether or not there exist a principal difference in results from artificial selection depending on the nature of genetic material involved, provenances or full-sib families. This information will be important for natural regeneration, for collection of seeds in stands, and for the possibilities to do artificial selection at an early age for adaptation to changing climatic conditions
 
Description on the work
Seeds and seedlings are available from collections made in 1998 in spruce stands in different parts of Norway planted with provenances from Germany, Austria and Poland and from the original provenance. A short-term field trial will be planted at the experimental farm Hoxmark, Ås, in the spring of 2000. Measurements will be made in 2002 of the time of flushing in the spring, the termination of shoot elongation and of the frost hardiness, after freezing tests of twigs in the autumn. Seeds and vegetative tissue from seedlings will be distributed to project participants 1, 2 and 5 for studies of genetic markers. A field trial, in a randomized block design, was established in 1993, comprising selected and unselected plants from full-sib families and provenances. Two-year-old seedlings from full-sib families and provenances were selected and categorised based on survival at freezing test temperatures of -6 °C (group 1), -8°C (group 2), and –12°C (group 3). Unfrozen control plants of the same families and provenances were categorised as group 0. Bud phenology, shoot elongation, growth and hardiness will be measured during 2000-2001, and twigs will be frozen autumn 2000 and spring 2001. Vegetative tissue from the saplings will be distributed to project participants 1, 2 and 5 for studies of genetic markers
 
Deliverables
One manuscript for international publication on the efficiency of early selection for autumn cold hardiness and correlated effects on other traits; 0-24. One manuscript for international publication on the adaptive properties of off-spring from stands planted with Central European provenances; 0-36
 
Milestones
1° year: Field trial established on experimental farm, freezing tests with twigs performed
2° year: Measurements in field trial from 1993 completed, first manuscript written
3° year: Measurements in field trial from 2000 completed, second manuscript written
© 2001 ISOGEN