Study on Variations of Seedling-stage Trait of Camptotheca acuminata Provenances

The provenance test on 10 provenances of Camptotheca acuminata from 10 provinces such as Guangdong Province, Yunnan Province, Fujian Province etc., was carried out in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Based on the investigation and analysis of traits in one-year-old seedling from different provenances, the results were showed as follows:Camptothecca acuminata had high level of genetic variation at the level of population. There were significant differences in such economic indexes as seedling height, diameter at the base, biomass of different organs, camptothecin concentration in leaf and camptothecin yield per seedling among 10 provenances in the experiment and the differences were mainly controlled by genetic factors, with different broad-sense heritabilities from 0.527 to 0.989. There was a very significant correlationship in biomass distribution among different organs of seedling. According to camptothecin yield per seedling,Jiangxi provenance was selected as a superior provenance for establishment of leaf-producing plantation of Camptotheca acuminata,which was 119.39% higher in camptothecin yield per seedling than that of the control provenance from Lin'an, Zhejiang Province. The genetic gain of camptothecin yield per unit area was expected to reach 105.42%,when Jiangxi provenance was used as plant material for establishment of leaf-producing plantation of Camptotheca acuminata.