CORRESPONDENCE OF PERFORMANCE BETWEEN GENETICALLY RELATED CLONES AND SEEDLINGS

The correspondence of the performance between genetically related vege tative propagules and seedlings, as expressed by the correlation betwe en (1) rejuvenated propagules and seedling progeny of the same parent, (2) vegetative propagules and seedlings from the same family, and (3) seedlings and vegetative propagules taken from them, was investigated . In the absence of propagation effects, expected correlations improve d with increasing additive variance and the number of seedlings and pr opagules tested, and ranged between moderate and high. Effects due to nonadditive genetic variance varied from unimportant, in the case of s eedlings and vegetative propagules of the same family, to large, in th e case of seedlings and their propagules. Simulation studies demonstra ted that propagation effects common to specific clones (C-effects) res ulted in a significant reduction in the magnitude of correlations if t he covariance with true genetic effects is negative or zero, but had l ittle effect when the covariance is positive. Propagation effects affe cting all ramets equally (c-effects) did not cause any change in the c orrelations. Generally, comparisons between rejuvenated propagules and seedling progeny resulted in higher correlations, and were less affec ted by propagation effects, than other comparisons. They were also mor e robust against departures from assumptions of open-pollinated family structure. Results from empirical studies seem to agree well with exp ectations and suggest that propagation effects might be involved on th e correspondence between genetically related clones and seedlings. Imp lications for selection and clonal deployment strategies need further investigation.