Variation regularity of taxol content in natural populations of Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. in China

Taxol contents in plants among different natural populations and single-plants within the same population of Taxus cuspidata in northeast China were examined by means of HPLC. The results are as follows: there is a significant difference in taxol content in plants among different populations, single plants within the same population,and trees at different ages and in different seasons. Taxol content in Daxinggou population is 40.97 μg/g which is 2.7 fold as high as that of Helong population. There also exists significant difference in taxol content among plants in a population. The highest taxol content in a plant of Wangqing population is 47.9 μg/g, which is 4.3 times that of the lowest one, indicating that the variance of taxol content results from inside or among populations. The variance of taxol content among populations is 84.6%, and that of among individuals is 15.0%. The broad heritability (H²) of taxol content is 82%. It is possible to get higher genetic gain of taxol if selecting stand or single-plant. The older the tree, the more taxol in plant. Taxol content in a plant is lower in growing seasons and higher in dormant seasons. There is a negative correlation between taxol content in plants and the growth, accumulated temperature, frostless period and amount of rainfall (-0.646 8, -0.479 6, -0.240 5 and -0.119 2), and a positive one between taxol content in plants and needle length of branches, longitude and latitude (0.717 7, 0.277 8 and 0.332 1). The higher the latitude, the higher taxol content and the slower growth.