Nursery Growth Performance of Hybrid Seedlings of Willow (Salix species)

Clones of willow (Salix species) were selected for control breeding/hybridization during the year 2011. The hybrids produced were raised and evaluated in earthen bowl (Stage I), root trainer (Stage II), polybags (Stage III) and finally shifted to the nursery (Stage IV) in the winter season and growth and leaf characters were evaluated in the year 2012. The nursery data revealed that growth (plant height and basal diameter) was recorded highest (347.48 cm, 18.98 mm, respectively) in family PN 227 x SI-64-007 followed by family PN 227 x NZ 1179 (328.35 cm, 18.40 mm, respectively). Number of branches was recorded maximum in family PN 227 x NZ 1140, while branch length, branch diameter, leaf length, petiole length were almost at par among all of the families. Correlation coefficient was found maximum for leaf length with midrib length (0.960) followed by plant height with basal diameter (0.851). A significant and positive correlation of basal diameter with number of nodes, branch diameter and branch number was recorded. On the basis of principal component analysis four components were extracted contributing 86.88 per cent of total variation. The first component explained 41.87 per cent variability included number of nodes (0.855), branch number (0.780), branch diameter (0.691), midrib length (0.670), basal diameter (0.653), branch length (0.588) and plant height (0.566). The maximum priority should be given to number of nodes along with other characters in first component for the selection in further breeding programme.