Selection on a Combination of Individual, Family, and Stand Merit in Provenance Tests

In range-wide provenance tests where progenies of parent trees from many randomly chosen stands are grown together in the same plantation, performance information on individuals, families, and stands should be combined to estimate breeding values of individual trees. Selection index theory is utilized to derive indices to optimize genetic progress when these sources of information are used and trees are grown in randomized blocks both for the case of equal numbers and for the more general case of unequal numbers. Estimates of the parameters required for these indices are given for height of 9-year-old red maple trees and these are used to illustrate differences in accuracy of predicting breeding values with different numbers of blocks, families per stand, and trees tested per family per block. Application of the indices derived for within stand selection is discussed. Forest Sci. 31:813-821.