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iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry
IntroductionClimatic chamber testing is the most efficient approach to identify pollution tolerant genotypes (e.g., Oleksyn & Bialobok 1986). However, limited space and high costs of maintaining the indoor tests allow testing a restricted number of genetic entries. A prescreening for tolerance under natural conditions could raise the efficiency of the indoor tests by pre-identifying the tolerant and nontolerant genotypes. Genetic field tests affected by air pollution could provide additional information on the genetic variation in the traits connected to air pollution tolerance. In our study, we benefited from a genetic test (clonal seed orchard) established nearby a nitrogen fertilizer plant and markedly affected by its emissions mainly during a major accident in the fertilizer plant .Being an issue of high public concern, a large number of studies on the effects of pollution to tree growth and tolerance mechanisms were carried out (e.g., Cape et al. 1989, Crossley & Fowler 1986, Tuomisto 1988, Kupcinskiene 2000. Though the genetic tolerance experiments are less abundant, there is a strong indication of a genetic component in the pollution stress tolerance (Bergmann & Scholz 1987b, Korshikov et al. 2002, Prus-Glowacki et al. 2006. Several independent studies reported a positive relationship between the genetic polymorphism of trees and their tolerance to air pollution (Geburek et al. 1987, Oleksyn et al. 1994, Prus-Glowacki et al. 2006). There was a significant Scots pine provenance variation in tolerance to air pollution in the vicinity of a nitrogen fertilizer plant in Poland (Oleksyn et al. 1994). Radial increment together with crown defoliation proved to be appropriate indicators of pollution tolerance in Scots pine genetic field tests (Oleksyn et al. 1994 The objective of our study was to develop a screening approach for genetic tolerance to industrial pollution in Scots pine. We assessed the relationship between the temporal variation in strength of genetic control of radial increment of the seed orchard clones and past pollutant emissions. The genetic relationship between past radial increment and present-day defoliation as well as tree diameter of the seed orchard clones was also investigated.
Materials and methodsThe clonal seed orchard was located 12 km north-eastwards from the JV nitrogen fertilizer plant in central Lithuania (latitude 55° 06', longitude 24° 26', elevation 77 m a.s.l.). It consisted of 28 clones with 20 ramets each and was established in 1972 with local genetic material. The origin of the root stocks is unknown. The spacing between the clones was 8 x 8 meters. The design of the orchard was 28 tree blocks containing one individual of each clone arranged in sequential order with five clones within each row. The seed orchard was not thinned. In 2011, increment cores were sampled from each ramet of the 28 clones. At the same time, the following traits reflecting present-day health and genetic differences among the clones were assessed: tree diameter...