Quambalaria shoot blight resistance in marri (Corymbia calophylla): Genetic parameters and correlations between growth rate and blight resistance

Duong, H.T.ORCID: 0000-0001-6183-6141, Mazanec, R., McComb, J.A., Burgess, T.ORCID: 0000-0002-7962-219X and Hardy, G.E.St.J. (2022) Quambalaria shoot blight resistance in marri (Corymbia calophylla): Genetic parameters and correlations between growth rate and blight resistance. Tree Genetics & Genomes, 18 (1). Art. 8.

Abstract

Quambalaria shoot blight (QSB) has emerged recently as a severe disease of Corymbia calophylla (marri). In this study, QSB damage and growth were assessed in Corymbia calophylla trees at 4 and 6 years of age in two common gardens consisting of 165 and 170 open-pollinated families representing 18 provenances across the species’ natural distribution. There were significant differences between provenances for all traits. The narrow-sense heritability for growth traits and QSB damage at both sites were low to moderate. The genetic correlation between QSB damage and growth traits was negative; fast-growing families were less damaged by QSB disease. Age-age genetic correlations for individual traits at four and six years were very strong, and the type-B (site–site) correlations were strongly positive for all traits. Provenances from cooler wetter regions showed higher resistance to QSB. The QSB incidence at 6 years was significantly correlated with environmental factors of the provenance’s origin. The QSB incidence at years four and six was not correlated with the QSB expression in 3-month-old seedlings. Based on these results, selection for resistance could be undertaken using 4-year-old trees. There is potential for a resistance breeding program to develop populations of marri genetically diverse and resistant to QSB.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	Veterinary Medicine
Publisher:	Springer
Copyright:	© 2022 The Authors.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/63877

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