Studying the Growth and Morphological Characteristics of Euphrate Poplar and White Poplar Hybrids in Experimental Nursery of Khouzestan Province

Populus alba because of fast growing and relatively adapting to dry and semi-dry climate conditions and P.euphratica because of salt tolerating are important as native species. Cuttings of 18 clones (P.alba x P.euphratica), a single reciprocal crossed clone (P. euphratica x alba) and 2 other P. alba clones were planted, surveyed under a RCBD with 3 replications each of which including 10 individuals per plot in Kushkak research station during February 2010. Germination percentage (GP), collar diameter (CD) and height (H) were measured early and late 1st growing season, respectively. 9 morphometric characteristics of randomly collected 30 leaf samples were also measured in the middle of the 2nd growing season. ANOVA showed significant differences among all investigated traits except for GP. During the two-year experiment, P.euphratica x P.alba 44/9 with 6.75 m H and 6 cm CD, and P.alba 58/57 with 2.51 m H and 2.1 cm CD had maximum and minimum growth respectively. Furthermore, PCA showed P.euphratica x P.alba 44/9 was completely different from other hybrids because of correlating with 9 out of 14 investigated traits, therefore P.euphratica x P.alba 44/9 was evaluated the best poplar hybrid during the two-year study in climatic conditions of north of Khouzestan province.