Growth variations and stability analyses of seven poplar clones at three sites in northeast China

Growth characteristics have complex inheritance patterns and genotype (G) by environment (E) interaction make predicting tree response to environmental changes difficult. In this study, the growth of seven poplar clones at three different sites was taken as the research focus, and heights and basal diameters were investigated in the second growing season. An ANOVA showed that all main effects, site, clone number and their interactions were highly significant in the overall F-tests. The coefficients of variation and repeatability of different traits ranged from 15.5 to 43.9% and from 0.549 to 0.912, respectively. AMMI (Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction) analysis results showed that genotype, environment and G × E interaction were significantly highly correlated. The stability analysis indicated that different clones showed different growth traits on different sites, which suggests that elite clones should be selected separately for different sites. Based on the growth traits, under a 10% selection rate, three clones were selected for different sites and the genetic gains of growth traits ranged from 4.7 to 11.2%. The three selected clones could be used to establish plantations in the future in different sites.