Spruce and wood quality: Genetic aspects (A review)

This paper is a review based on articles about the genetics of wood quality of Norway and Sitka spruce. Among the wood quality traits, wood density is the most widely used. The main topics of the paper are : genetic control (genetic control of wood density, change of genetic control with age, genotype-environment interaction), young-adult relationships, relationships between wood density and other wood properties, and relationships between wood density and growth and adaptation traits (especially about the widely studied unfavourable relationship between diameter growth and wood density). other wood properties are briefly mentioned, as they were far less studied than wood density. The conclusion summaries the main trends in the results, and proposes some frames and guidances for future studies.