Preliminary phenotypic characterization of Sorbus domestica and S. torminalis under selection for timber production

The current timber production in Italy covers only 20 %of the national demand. The national timber industry has been trying to increase the domestic production of sliced veneer logs from indigenous broadleaved species, which are largely employed by the furniture and interior design industry. The present work shows for the first time the results concerning the phenotypic characterizations of Sorbus domestica and Sorbus torminalis accessions under selection in the Po Valley (Northern Italy) for timber production: thirty-one S. domestica seedlings from three provenances—Toscanella (Northern Apennines, Italy), Serbia (from a research Institute), and Oxford (United Kingdom) botanical garden—and one hundred and twenty-five S. torminalis seedlings from a single mother tree, from the Northern Apennines (Italy), were classified for annual diameter and height increase into three groups. S. domestica seedlings were also evaluated according to ‘superior phenotypes’ scoring method. Six S. domestica ‘high-value’ ideotypes, scoring 20–42 %with respect to the comparison trees, were selected.