Growth and drought stress tolerance in a provenance trial with red oak and selection of plus trees

Background and Objective

RubraSelect will lay the foundation for the production and delivery of high quality reproductive material of
Quercus rubra L. for Germany in the face of climate change. The project aims at the selection and
propagation of trees with superior phenotypes (plus trees) considering their geographic origin as well as
their genetic diversity and adaptive potential. The selection of plus trees will be conducted in planted stands
and in provenance trials based on quality, growth, vitality and genetic marker (Single Nucleotide
Polymorphism, SNP) information. Additionally, plus trees will be characterized at selected biomarkers to
assess their adaptive potential. Progeny trials will be established to test for differences in drought tolerance
among plus tree progenies.
Finally, the genetic basis of growth characteristics and drought stress tolerance will be analysed in a
seedling trial under controlled conditions. Specifically, metabolome and transcriptome and genome
analyses will be used for the development of new drought stress markers responsible for the adaptation to
drought stress conditions. Genome-wide association analyses of genetic variation with trait variation
(drought related traits, metabolites) will be conducted to identify and validate gene markers for growth and
drought stress adaptation.

Approach

The work-packeges of the sub-project of the Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics are
(1) the recording of the phenotypic variation depending on different site conditions (WP7),
(2) the analysis of the reaction of the increase in diameter during and after years of drought (WP9) and
(3) the selection of plus trees and their vegetative propagation as the basis for the establishment of a seed
orchard (WP10) and
(4) reports and presentations of the results in journals and at conferences (WP11)