Geographic Variation in Growth and Wood Properties and Determination of the Optimum Provenance Region for Paper-Pulp Wood of Masson Pine

After a study on the volume growth and wood properties of 10-year-old masson pines of 90 seed sources, significant variations were found in stem volume and wood basic density. Stem volume increased and wood density decreased gradually from north to south. The seed sources of the trees with greatest wood density was from northwest of the range and the smallest from the middle belt. There were very small effect of seed source and no definite geographic pattern in tracheid length. Considering the significant nagative genetic correlation between stem volume and basic density and the marked provenance effects for both traits, we would emphasize growth (volume) as the primary target trait and wood quality (basic density) as secondary one when selecting superior provenances or seed sources. Using the unrestricted selection index combining stem volume with basic density, we found that the zone including western Fujian,central and southern Jiangxi, southern end of Hunan, northwestern Guangdong and southeast of Guangxi was the optimum provenance region for paper-pulp wood of masson pine.