Provenance Variation in Early Growth, Seedling Establishment and Seed Traits of Diospyros glaucifolia: A First Genetic Evaluation of a Native Timber Species

Diospyros glaucifolia Metcalf is a native timber tree of subtropical China of interest for reserve-forest planting, but genetically unevaluated. In a common-garden nursery trial we assessed first-season emergence, growth and seed traits of 84 open-pollinated families (9–17 per provenance) from six provenances, sown in randomized complete blocks (four replicates) as contiguous family plots; because seedlings within a plot are subsamples, effects were tested against the family × block plot. Provenances differed strongly in height and ground diameter (both p < 0.001) and in emergence, which ranged from below 30% in Longquan and Longnan to over 90% in the other four provenances; seed traits also varied among provenances. Height growth followed a logistic curve, with a rapid phase from late June to late August accounting for about two-thirds of first-season height. Once the plot structure was accounted for, family differentiation was modest (family-mean heritability of height about 0.36 and significant; diameter not significant), so early family selection for height is possible but would yield only limited gains, and height showed no consistent latitudinal trend across all six provenances. From an earlier program whose field phase was interrupted, these data give a first genetic evaluation and a baseline for future field testing and germplasm use.