Natural Self-Fertilization in Three Jack Pines and its Implications in Seed Orchard Management

Marker genes were used to estimate natural self-fertilization in three open-grown trees of Pinus banksiana Lamb. It was estimated that 13 percent of the seeds obtained from the upper tree crowns and 26 percent of those from the lower crowns resulted from self-fertilization. It is suggested that the manipulation of the crown shape of trees in clonal or seedling seed orchards will result in an increase in the proportion of self-fertilized seeds produced by these orchards.