%0 Research article
%T Early growth and phenology of hybrid aspen and poplar in clonal field tests in Scandinavia
%A Stener, Lars-Göran
%A Westin, Johan
%D 2017
%J Silva Fennica
%V 51
%N 3
%R doi:10.14214/sf.5656
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/5656
%X <p>Results on early survival, growth and shoot phenology of hybrid aspen (<em>Populus tremula</em> L. × <em>P. tremuloides</em> Michx.) and poplar clones (<em>P. trichocarpa</em> Torr. &amp; A. Gray, <em>P. balsamifera</em> L., <em>P. maximowiczii</em> A. Henry and their hybrids) in 13 Scandinavian field trials are presented. The trials were established on forest land (7 sites) or former agricultural land (6 sites) within the latitude range of 56° to 65° N and were assessed 3–4 years after establishment. The main aim was to evaluate phenotypic and genetic differences related to early survival, growth and phenology for hybrid aspen and poplar for different site types and latitudes. Growth and survival was generally higher for hybrid aspen than poplar at all sites. The poor performance of poplar compared to hybrid aspen is likely due to climatic maladaptation or high soil acidity. The early growth performance of the species need to be confirmed at a higher age. The genetic variation and genetic control for growth, phenology and survival was in general intermediate to large indicating good possibilities for effective clonal selection. The genetic site x site correlations (<em>r<sub>GE</sub></em>) for growth were for hybrid aspen mostly strong, indicating a weak genotype by environment interaction, while <em>r<sub>GE</sub></em> were inconsistent for poplars.The result suggests that southern Sweden can be treated as a single test and utilization zone and in northern Sweden the region along the coast may be another zone. It is too early to make any corresponding conclusions for poplar. In addition, the result backs up the current recommendations for utilization of selected hybrid aspen and poplar regeneration material in Sweden.</p>