Clonal selection prospects in western hemlock combining rooting traits with juvenile height growth

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Abstract
Variation in 1st-year height (HT) of western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) rooted cuttings was partitioned into environmental and genetic components. C effects, a unique type of environmental effect, was highly significant and made up 8% of the total variation. Much of the variation (21%) resulted from genetic control of HT, producing a broad-sense heritability of 0.81. As reported in a previous paper, initial rooting ability of the rooted cuttings affected the 1st-year height growth of the trees. Genetic correlations between HT and the five rooting traits ranged from 0.37 to 0.59. Using a selection index (assuming 33% selection intensity) containing both HT and a rooting trait (VOL) would result in gains of 8–10% for HT and 20–34% for VOL, depending on relative economic weights for the two traits.