Variation in Cone and Seed Productions of Taurus Cedar (Cedrus Libani A. Rich.) Populations

Reproductive characteristics are important tools for sustainable forestry and to transmit present gene diversity to future generations by forestry practices. Knowledge and estimation of fertility variation and its linkage parameters, such as population size and gene diversity in seed crops calculated by reproductive traits, are used widely because of their many advantages. Forestry practices use estimates of these parameters for various purposes, including natural regeneration, establishment, and management of seed sources.. In this study, cone and seed production and their effect on fertility variation were examined in two natural populations (P1 & P2) of Taurus cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich.) sampled from the southern part of Türkiye. Numbers of mature cones, which were two years old and filled with seeds, were counted from fifty trees selected phenotypically from each population in 2023. The averages of cone and seed number were 90 and 33, and 5321 and 3115 per tree in the populations P1 and P2, respectively. Among individuals within a population, and between populations, there were large differences in cone and seed production. The percentages of filled seeds were 94% in P1 and 83% in P2. There were significant differences (p<0.05) between populations in terms of the production and percentage of filled seeds, according to results of analysis of variance. Estimated fertility variations (Ψ<2) were in good accordance with the target (Ψ<3). The effective number of parents ranged from 30.1 (60% of number of individuals) to 41.4 (83%). Besides, data sets can be used to fill the FLR-Library.