Growth traits from different provenances of Melia azedarach at seedling stage

In this study，6 growth traits of Melia azedarach seedlings from 10 provenances in China were measured，and the genetic variations of growth traits from different provenances were analyzed. The results showed that variance coefficient of growth traits ranged from 12.31%～68.11%，and there were highly significant differences among the 5 growth traits except the tree stem straightness，which indicated that the selection of provenances for Melia azedarac had great potential. As a whole，the geographic variation trend of growth traits was not obvious，with the random variation mode. There were no significant differences for seed and plant growth traits among different provenances. The heritability of the five growth traits apart from straightness was more than 45%，which indicated that the growth traits of M. azedarach were controlled by genetic factors to a certain degree. In addition，there was no significant correlation between the height and ground diameter of plants and geographic factors. However，there was significantly positive correlation between the ground diameter and annual precipitation. In this experiment，four superior provenances（Wuzhou，Nanchang，Xingning，Xinxian）were screened out according to plant height.