Early performance of mahagony clones (Swietenia macrophylla King) at Pococí from Limón, Costa Rica

Abstract

In Costa Rica, reforestation for commercial purposes using native species of high market value has not been developed with the potential that the country has, mainly as a consequence of the lack of adequate genetic material for each of the productive regions. among other. To achieve successful production systems, genetic material identified as superior based on it performance under different site conditions is required. The objective of this research was to evaluate the dasometric performance at early age of mahogany genotypes developing under the conditions of the Guápiles site, with the purpose of improving the package of intensive and site-specific forestry production for this specie. For this, a clonal trial located in said place was evaluated for nine years, in order to know the performance of the different genotypes evaluated. An average normal diameter of 16.3 cm*tree^-1 was recorded at 108 months, which represents an AMI of 1.81 cm*tree^-1*year^-1. Clones 207, 233, 194, 227, 57, 52, 21, 126, 201, 61, 56, 72, 199, 97, 191, 16, 187, 217, 276, 183, 173, 40, 3, 100, 193, 185, 177, 307, 1 and 237 were selected to continue genetic improvement for this site. Its use would generate an average volume at 9 years of 0.2206 m³*tree^-1. The remaining clones should be discarded for commercial reforestation purposes and conserved for possible future purposes.

Keywords: Growth, productivity, genetic material, selection.