Variations and Correlations Among Growth Characteristics in Natural Hybrid Banebaghi Seedlings as a Pistachio Rootstock

In pistachio rootstocks breeding, correlation of characteristics and their relationships with plan vigor is very important. Banebaghi is a natural cross of Pistacia subspecies that have a high variation in generated seedlings. In order to study these variations and relationships among morphological characteristics, an experiment was designed with 108 seedlings of Banebaghi. Fourteen growth characteristics such as seedling primary growth type, length and diameter of shoot, leaf and leaflet, dimensions of leaf and leaflet, leaf and leaflet number and two physiological parameters, including chlorophyll index and chlorophyll florescence were evaluated. Based on results, a high morphological variation was observed in Banebaghi seedlings, so that seedlings divided in two groups based on types of growth: pistachio growth type and mastic tree growth type. In both growth types, there were positively and negatively correlations among vigor of seedling and stem length, leaf number, stem diameters and chlorophyll index. Based on stepwise regression analysis, in both growth types stem volume and leaf number influenced the stem length and diameters of seedlings.