Geographic Variations of Seedlings Growth and Biomass in Chinese Wingnut (Pterocarya stenoptera) Provenance

The Chinese wingnut seedling provenance trial containing 55 seedlots collected from its full distribution zone was conducted in Anji, northern Zhejiang Province. The provenances showed significant differences in growth traits, such as difference up to 163% for height, 180% for ground diameter and 194% for dry biomass between the best and worst seedlot. The results showed that seedling height was closely related to latitude and altitude of the seedlots, which means that southern seedlots or those from lower altitude are generally better than northern ones or those from higher altitude. It is found that the different geographic variation patterns existed in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River valley sub zone, southern hilly sub zone, Lijiang River Xiangjiang River Dongtinghu Lake system, Guizhou Sichuan Shanxi western sub zone, north sub zone. The comprehensive selection index was constructed as below: I=0.116 7X 1(total dry biomass)+0.0750X 2(seedling height)-0.123 1X 3(ground diameter), and 6 superior provenances were screened out based on the index, i.e., Xingfeng in southern Jiangxi, Sinan in north eastern Guizhou, Hanzhong in central Shanxi, Yiyang in Dongtinghu Lake area, Fuling of Chongqing as well as Fuan in north eastern Fujian.