Breeding program for conifers in forest seed area

The program is based on 30 years of research by the author for breeding softwood for plantation cultivation and modeling of the course of growth of trees and forest stands. Scope of work presented progeny plus trees and conventional trees of Scots pine Рinus sylvestris L. and spruce Finnish (Рicea × fennica (Regel) Кom.) from 16 populations of the Perm region total of 1435 families under the age of 23 years. In modeling the course, studies covered the development of stands of spruce growing on 349 plots. It was found that the problem of different types of progeny can not be solved by increasing the term of the test and on the basis of management of development of the stand test cultures by certain models, with constant regulation of their density. The summary of data on the growth of progeny in different density test cultures found that the offspring «remembers» competitive and edaphic conditions which formed the parent tree and grows best in them. Therefore, a selection of plus trees in plantations-analogues plantation crops, ie in exactly the same conditions in which we are going to grow their offspring,is based on earlier estimates of growth of offspring at the age of 4–8 years. At the same time selection of candidates for the varieties happening after a series of stepwise tests several seed yield with consistent reduction in the number of families from 500–1000 to ≈ 70. Reliability selection of candidates will be 70–80 %. The speed and reliability of the best selection progeny can be significantly increased by using chemical marker needles. The program consists of 10 stages, by 3–4 times reduces the cost and time for selection of industrial varieties of Scots pine and spruce Finnish. They can be reduced even more by using chemical marker needles typical for families with rapid growth