Study on Gene Resources in Populus ussuriensis

More than 400 native gene resources of Populus ussuriensis Kom., the special indigenous tree species of northeast forestry region of China, were collected. In 1994 the first gene pool of P. ussuriensis in China was established by these materials in Dailing, Heilongjiang Province.The conventional methods were used to analyze and measure the characters such as growth, phenology, disease resistance to Melampsora larici populina and wood properties,and RAPD analysis was applied to detect the genetic structure of nature populations and differentiation degree on DNA molecular level. Based on the synthetic evaluation, 5 elite populations and 44 elite individuals, which were selected, will provide a basis of establishing plantation in northeast China and the materials and information to resistant breeding in Populus. The result showed that elite individual selection within the best seed sources is an important way of genetic improvement of P.ussuriensis in the near future.