Cone and Seeds Variability in Seed Orchards and Seed Stands of Pinus sylvestris

Seeds from seed orchards and seed stands may differ in morphology and quality, both determined during the seed assessment. The study aims at the comparison of phenotypic characters of cones and seeds originating from economic seed stands and seed orchards of Scots pine from western Poland. The study was conducted in 5 seed stands and 5 clonal seed orchards, representing five Scots pine populations. The analyses included the following measurements: length and width of cones, the number of empty and full seeds in the cone and the weight of 1000 seeds. Moreover, the measurements of the length and width of the seed surface were carried out. The analysed seed stands and orchards were characterized by high variability in terms of the size and weight of cones and the amount of seeds. An ANOVA treatment showed that seed stands and orchards significantly differed in length and width of cones and seeds. Both seeds and cones from the seed orchards were characterized by higher values of analyzed traits than ones from the economic seed stands. Differences in mass of cones and 1000 seed weigh were of low significance (p = 0.022 divided by 0.037). Significant differences between the length of seeds and seed area among all of the examined populations were demonstrated. The percentage contribution of empty seeds for all of the analysed sites of origin was not statistically significant.