Cone quality and seed efficiency in the clones from mutational witches brooms of Pinus sibirica

Mutational witches' broom is a fragment of the tree crown with abnormal morphogenesis including slow shoot growth, abundant branching and decreased apical dominance which caused by somatic mutation that presumably originates in the apical meristem bud. To study the variability in the cone quality and seed efficiency in witches' broom clones of Pinus sibirica, the cone size and structure were assessed in 21 mutant clones. The mutant clones were significantly differentiated both by the cone traits and seed quality. Their cone size varied from less than 3 to 4 cm. The clones had large number of sterile scales in proximal and distal cone parts, and from 16 to 39 fertile scales per cone. Cones from all mutant clones were inferior to average normal cones of the species. Six clones had large portion of filled seeds, more than 70%, and the other clones had less than 50% of filled seeds. The clones had 10-33% of empty seeds and 1-73% of seeds with collapsed megagametophyte per cone. In general, the seed quality in mutants was quite low, but individual clones had almost normal seed quality, and their seed efficiency was within the species norm.