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Interclonal variation in biometric parameters of Pinus sylvestris L. seedlings based on multivariate analysis
 
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National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
 
 
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Oleksandr Bala   

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
 
 
 
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ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to assess interclonal variation in the main biometric parameters of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings grown from seeds of different clonal origin, and to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated multivariate statistical methods for selecting promising clones. The study material consisted of Pinus sylvestris L. seedlings grown from seeds of 60 plus-tree clones. Seedling height, root collar diameter, taproot and lateral root length, needle length, and seedling air-dry mass were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were applied for the integrated assessment of interclonal differences. Significant interclonal differences were established for all biometric parameters studied. Seedling height ranged from 13.0–15.0 cm in clones with minimum quantitative characteristics (D1, D41, D13) to 40.0–42.0 cm in clones with high biometric parameters (D21, D22, D20, D32, D40), which consistently exceeded the control. Root collar diameter varied from 0.3–0.6 mm in clones D1, D59, and D60 to 2.7–3.0 mm in clones D31, D18, D10, and D51. Taproot length in clones D22, D20, and D32 was 22.0–23.3 cm, while lateral root length in clones with high biometric parameters reached 18.0–19.1 cm, significantly exceeding the control values. Needle length in productive clones was 4.0-4.4 cm, while in low-productivity clones it did not exceed 1.2–1.5 cm. Seedling air-dry mass ranged from 16.0-18.0 g in clones with low growth potential to 35.0-39.6 g in clones D21, D22, D20, D32, and D40. The results of the principal component analysis showed that the first two components explained 81.1% of the total variation in biometric parameters (PC1 – 63.9%, PC2 – 17.2%) and provided clear differentiation of seedlings by clonal origin. Cluster analysis confirmed high within-clone homogeneity and distinct among-clone differences. The combined application of univariate biometric analysis, PCA, clustering, and an integrated summary diagram provided clear differentiation of Scots pine clones with high growth potential (D21, D22, D20, D32, D40) and identification of a low-productivity clone (D1). The results confirm the decisive role of seed origin in the formation of morphological structure of Scots pine seedlings and justify the application of integrated multivariate methods for identifying genetically valuable clones promising for forest seed production and tree breeding.
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