Correlation between the phenology of leafing and growth characteristics of Douglas-fir provenances in Serbia

Abstract

The study of periodic plant life cycle events, or phenology, is of great importance both in the process of species introduction and in the period of its adaptation to new environmental conditions. We assumed that the leaf-out process correlates with the elements of plant growth. The research we focused on these dependencies in order to select the provenances which would be the most suitable for introduction in Serbia. The research was aimed at investigate the dependencies of leafing on the height, diameter, and height increment of Douglas-fir provenances within the experiment in Serbia. The experiment was established using native seed material originating from different provenances from a part of the natural range of Douglas-fir distribution in North America. Therefore, it has a significant effect on the elements of plant growth. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, regression and correlation. It was concluded that the correlation between the time of leaf-out (bud break) and morphological characters of Douglas-fir trees of different provenances was statistically weak. The correlation was the strongest between the time of leaf-out and the height of plants.