Minimum-inbreeding seed orchard design

Abstract

The industrial concept of "quadratic assignment problem" (QAP) was used to develop a new seed orchard design that minimizes the level of inbreeding (minimum inbreeding [MI]) in an orchard's seed crop through the optimum allocation of clones within the orchard's grid. Spatial distribution of individual trees was done in proportion to their degree of genetic relatedness. The MI orchard design accommodates a variable number of unrelated or related clones with equal or variable sizes, and it is not restricted by the orchard's spatial configuration (shape or size). The proposed design is suitable for advanced generation populations that commonly harbor complicated pedigree relationships. The MI design was compared with the commonly used permutated neighborhood design and the completely randomized scheme, resulting in aggregate inbreeding distances of 6.82, 12.53, and 22.56, respectively, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed design. © 2010 by the Society of American Foresters.