Article Pinus sylvestris Breeding for Resistance against Natural Infection of the Fungus Heterobasidion annosum 1 1, 2 1 Raitis Rieksts-Riekstin, š , Pauls Zeltin, š * , Virgilijus Baliuckas , Lauma Bruna¯ , 1 1 Astra Zal, uma and Rolands Kapostin¯ , š 1 Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, 111 Rigas street, LV-2169 Salaspils, Latvia;
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[email protected] Received: 28 November 2019; Accepted: 19 December 2019; Published: 22 December 2019 Abstract: Increasing resistance against biotic and abiotic factors is an important goal of forest tree breeding. The aim of the present study was to develop a root rot resistance index for Scots pine breeding and evaluate its effectiveness. The productivity, branch diameter, branchiness, stem straightness, spike knots, and damage from natural infection of root rot in 154 Scots pine open-pollinated families from Latvia were evaluated through a progeny field trial at the age of 38 years. Trees with decline symptoms were sampled for fungal isolations. Based on this information and kriging estimates of root rot, 35 affected areas (average size: 108 m2; total 28% from the 1.5 ha trial) were delineated. Resistance index of a single tree was formed based on family adjusted proportion of live to infected trees and distance to the center of affected area.