Plasticity of the growth and biomass production of an intraspecific Populus alba family grown at three sites across Europe during three growing seasons

Abstract

White poplar (Populus alba) is a native species in Europe, but its growth potential is largely unknown. The general objectives of our study were to determine the impact of contrasting environments across Europe and the influence of contrasting parental characterisitics on the growth potential of the F1 white poplar family originating from a cross between parents native to from the south and north of Italy. The growth of the family was monitored at three sites located in the north of Italy, in central France and in the southern United Kingdom. The family showed a highly superior productivity in Italy. A pronounced plasticity among sites was found for the male parent only. Indeed, for this parent, the highest growth was observed in northern Italy, its area of origin. A positive heterosis was observed mainly in France and in the United Kingdom. Broad-sense heritability values were moderate in most cases. However, the growth of the family was in some cases superior to the one of several other interspecific hybrid families grwoing under the same conditions, underlying the poorly known growth potential of such intraspecific hybrids for biomass production uunder European conditions.

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