Abstract:
To explore the fruiting characteristics and seed characteristics and their variation patterns of Abies species distributed in Northwest Yunnan, and to provide material support and theoretical basis for promoting the regeneration and restoration of Abies forest, the specimens and cones of seven Abies species distributed in Northwest Yunnan were collected and identified, and the seed morphological characteristics, seed viability, and fruiting characteristics were analyzed, and then the differences among species and regions were explored separately. The results showed that the length, width and thickness of seeds of seven Abies species in Northwest Yunnan were 6.04-10.22 mm, 2.03-3.32 mm and 1.26-2.24 mm, respectively, and the thousand-grain weight was 4.26-30.50 g. The thousand-grain weight was significantly correlated with seed length, width and thickness(r>0.8, P<0.01). The average rates of plump, empty and insect-eaten seeds of seven Abies species in Northwest Yunnan were 27.51%, 4.92% and 67.58%, respectively. The rate of plump seed was low, and that of empty and insect-eaten seeds was high. Abies ernestii var. salouenensis was not further analyzed in this article due to field investigations revealing that most of them had no cone and only one tree’s cones were collected in this study. For the other six species, the rate of insect-eaten seeds did not differ significantly between species(P=0.750), or between regions(P=0.204). However, there were interspecies differences in the rate of plump seeds(P=0.005) and empty seeds(P=0.007). There were interspecific(P=0.008) and interregional(P=0.036) differences in Abies seed viability. Therefore, seed viability of Abies was affected by both species characteristics and environmental factors.