Download The potential for using foliar carbon isotopic signature to screen drought tolerant radiate pine genotypes for dryland plantation forests in New Zealand

The aim of this study was to assess the potential use of δ13C in a future breeding program for selection of radiata pine genotypes with high water use efficiency (WUE) and better growth performance under drought-prone conditions through quantifying the genetic variation in needle δ13C (a surrogate index of WUE), height and diameter growth of 20 individual trees of 120 open pollinated radiata pine families, and determining the genetic correlations among these traits.