Through stochastic simulations, accuracies of breeding values and response to selection were assessed under traditional pedigree-(BLUP) and genomic-based evaluation methods (GBLUP) in forest tree breeding. The latter provides a methodological foundation for genomic selection. We evaluated the impact of clonal replication in progeny testing on the response to selection realized in seed orchards under variable marker density and target effective population sizes. We found that clonal replication in progeny trials boosted selection accuracy, thus providing additional genetic gains under BLUP. While a similar trend was observed for GBLUP, however, the added gains did not surpass those under BLUP. Therefore, breeding programs deploying extensive progeny testing with clonal propagation might not benefit from the deployment of genomic information. These findings could be helpful in the context of operational breeding programs.

Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences Faculty of Forestry University of British Columbia Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4 Canada

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Kamýcká 1176 165 21 Praha Czech Republic

Scion 49 Sala Street Whakarewarewa 3010 Rotorua New Zealand

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