Discrimination and identification of coastal Douglas-fir clones using needle flavonoid fingerprints

This paper describes a method for discriminating and identifying 10 successful Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) clones using foliar flavonoids. All the 101 individuals analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography contained two proanthocyanidins: prodelphinidin and procyanidin and six flavonols: myricetin, quercetin, larycitrin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin and syringetin, but in different proportions. The experimental protocol used was very reproducible since the variation coefficients for each flavonoid did not exceed 9%. Submission of the flavonoid data to multivariate discriminant analysis allowed excellent discrimination of the 10 clones with 89% of the individuals being well-grouped. Then a clonal bank was established in which the fingerprint of each clone is defined by its position in the multidimensional space of the discriminant analysis. The clonal identity of several unknown individuals was determined with success by projecting their flavonoid data in a subsequent discriminant analysis.