SHORT NOTE - IMPORTANCE OF ADDITIVE GENETIC AND SPECIFIC COMBINING ABILITY EFFECTS FOR ROOTING ABILITY OF STEM CUTTINGS IN EUCALYPTUS-GLOBULUS

A large study involving 2194 clones from 124 full-sib families tested in four rooting trials, was conducted to investigate the importance of genetic additive and specific combining ability effects in the rootin g success of Eucalyptus globulus stem cuttings. The results found a hi gh narrow sense heritability (h(2) = 0.54), low specific combining abi lity effects and low genotype by test interaction. They suggest that l arge gains can be achieved by direct selection for rooting ability. Ro oting ability of specific crosses seems therefore to be accurately pre dicted simply from the parents' additive genetic merit. This open the possibility of family propagation schemes in eucalypts.