A Study of Growth and Fruiting Characteristics of Idesia polycarpa Plantation in Hilly Area of Central Sichuan

Idesia polycarpa (IP) is an excellent native woody oil tree species in Sichuan. In order to provide scientific basis for the selection of superior family and fine clone in plantations in the future, studies were made of growth and fruit characteristics of Idesia polycarpa seed plantations. In this paper, the growth and fruit phenotypic characteristics of 5-year-old plantation in hilly areas of central Sichuan were investigated and statistically analyzed. The results showed that (1) the yield per plant varied from 2.59 kg to 26.75 kg, and the 100-grain weight of the fruit varied from 20.13 g to 63.92 g; (2) there were significant differences in growth traits and fruit phenotypic traits of the 25 primary selected plants. The results of correlation analysis between plant growth traits and fruit phenotypic traits showed that (a) there was a significant positive correlation among fruit sequence weight and fruit stalk thickness; (b) there was very significant positive correlation among tree height, DBH and crown width; (c) there was very significant positive correlation between the number of branches and the total number of branches; (d) there was significant positive correlation among the yield per plant and fruit inflorescence length, fruit inflorescence weight and net weight of each fruit inflorescence. In conclusion, there were significant differences in growth traits and fruiting characteristics between individual plants of Idesia polycarpa plantation, thus having great selection potential.