Family Variation and Early Selection of Growth Traits of Cupressus funebris

In December 2019, tally was carried out at filial generation stand of excellent Cupressus funebris trees of 48 families from different producing areas in Shibawu Forest Farm of Chun’an county, Zhejiang province, which was established in 2015 with 1-year container seedlings. The result demonstrated that there were significant differences (P<0.01) in growth traits (tree height, DBH, under-branch height, crown diameter, straightness and number of branches) among tested families. The growth traits were affected by the interaction of heredity and environment, except straightness. The family heritability of growth traits was 0.18-0.82, among them, of DBH, tree height and straightness was more than 0.5. Correlation analysis showed that DBH and tree height had extremely significant positive correlation, and DBH and height had evident positive relation with crown diameter and branching number. Taking 20% as the selection criterion, 9 excellent families were selected, and their genetic gains of DBH and tree height were 20.39%-38.67% and 15.75%-26.83%. Taking 5% as the selection criterion, 74 excellent individual trees were screened, and their genetic gains of DBH and tree height were 33.29% and 32.59%.