Title: The genetic and economic effect of preliminary culling in the seedling orchard

Author: Riemenschneider, Don E.

Year: 1977

Publication: In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Lake States Forest Tree Improvement Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-50. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station. 81-91

Abstract: The genetic and economic effects of two stages of truncation selection in a white spruce seedling orchard were investigated by computer simulation. Genetic effects were computed by assuming a bivariate distribution of juvenile and mature traits and volume was used as the selection criterion. Seed production was assumed to rise in a linear fashion to maturity and then remain constant for the life of the orchard. Expected seed production was used to compute the number of acres that could be planted and volume gain over this acreage was estimated using predicted response to selection and white spruce volume tables. The added volume was compared to the cost of the orchard using the cost-price investment criterion. The cost-price of the volume gain was found to vary little over reasonable intensities of preliminary culling and the optimum intensity remained the same regardless of the juvenile-mature correlation.