Genetic imprints and environmental effects in a common garden of 500 Picea abies families from 160 sites throughout the Alps.

A common garden of Picea abies using seeds from a mapping population constituted by the half-sib progeny of 518 families from 160 sites in the Alps was established nearby Trento, Italy. The whole mapping population was phenotyped at multiple traits involved in the long-term adaptation to the local environment. All mother trees were genotyped at candidate genes for discovering SNP variation potentially involved in the phenotypic variation at target traits.