Abstracts

The most significant work on formation of constant seed base of Siberian cedar has been carried out in the Berdsk special seed-growing forestry farm of Novosibirsk Region and the Mountain-Altai experimental timber-industrial complex enterprise of Republic of Altai. Selection of plus cedar trees for seed productivity, volume and quality of cedar trunk as well as for tar productivity has been made in the best highly productive natural cedar woods of the southern taiga subzone in Novosibirsk Region and North-Eastern Altai. The total number of plus cedar trees has been certified: 107 – in Novosibirsk Region, 438 – in Republic of Altai. Seed plantations (52.3  ha in Novosibirsk Region and 26.5  ha in Republic of Altai) have been formed by the tree seedlings copulated from plus cedar trees.

The clones of plus cedar trees, selected for seed productivity, i.e. for quantity and quality of seeds, are of the greatest interest in economic aspects. It is known that the cost of 3-5 heavy cedar-seed yields fully recovers the cost of cedar wood. At present, the price of 1 kg of cedar nuts exceeds 1 thousand roubles.

The 15-25-year grafted cedar trees, being grown on the seed plantations of the Berdsk special seed-growing forestry farm, are as high as 1.7-6.0  m and are characterized by fairly steady (almost yearly) seed bearing. During fruitful years, every 25-year tree of the best clones yields 300-500 cones and even up to 800  cones. Cedar nutting work has been under way for more than 10 years.

The cedar seeds are used for growing selection-improved planting stock.

To make a detailed analysis of seed bearing and to carry out subsequent work on cedar selection, the variability of main structural elements of seed productivity of the most yielding clones has been investigated, namely:

• the number of maternal (cone-bearing) shoots;
• the average number of cones (“ozimi”) on a single shoot;
• the average number of fallen-cone imprints for a 10-year period;
• the dimensions (length, width, form) of cones;
• the average number of fertile seed squamae;
• the number of full-sized, empty, putrid and abortive seeds.

• for cone length – 42%;
• for the number of fertile seed squamae – 53%;
• for the number of full-sized seeds – 48%
.

It is obvious that so great variation of seed productivity elements points to good prospects for cedar selection in this direction and building up, in future, of highly productive seed plantations of cedar on the genetic-breeding basis not only in the areal of its natural growing, but also for its extensive introduction into the northern area of forest-steppe in the West Siberia and European part of Russia.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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