engleski

Occurrence of early fructification in pedunculate oak provenance trials

Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) is one of the most valuable forest tree species in Croatia which occupy approxymately two million hectars of the country. According to previous researches, pedunculate oak trees raised from seeds usually reach its sexual maturity at age 60-70 years. To our surprise we noticed pedunculate oak trees fructifying at age of just six years in two field trials. The two trials were established in 2008 and 2010, respectively with an aim to study within-species genetic variability. Trials were established according to the randomised complete block design with three replications (blocks). Twenty open- pollinated (OP) progenis orginating from 22 provenances (17 Croatian and 5 Austrian) were planted in both trials. Each OP family was represented by five saplings per replication planted in linear plots. Each provenance was represented by 100 samplings per block planted in rectangular plots with 2, 5 x 2 m spacing. The aim of this study was to determine amount of early fructification in the trials, between- provenance differences as well as within- provenance variation for the trait.

acorn, early fructification, male catkin, provenance trials, Quercus robur L.

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