Abstract:
Shanxi Province is both the central distribution area of Pinus tabuliformis and the major seed sources
for surrounding provinces. In this paper, genetic variations of growth traits in 21-year-old progeny tests of
23 natural stands mainly from Shanxi provenance of P. tabuliformis were investigated. The results showed
that variations in growth traits among progeny tests of 23 natural stands were highly significant. Natural
distribution of P. tabuliformis in Shanxi Province exhibited a feature of geographic regionalization and
mountainous regionalization. Similar performance in growth traits of stand progenies within the same
mountain region, but highly different among mountain regions were observed. In order of descending of
progeny growth of 23 stands in different geographic regions, it went as middle region, south region and
north region. While in different mountain regions, it went as Guandi Mountain region, Taiyue Mountain
region, Zhongtiao Mountain region, Lliang Mountain region, Taihang Mountain region and Guancen
Mountain region, which were different from the stand growth determination in situ. Growth of progenies in
6 selected elite stands was much higher than stand progeny in testing region. Conserving elite natural
stands, developing seed stands for improvement would be facilitated for afforestation of P. tabuliformis in
testing regions.