Patent ID: 7378570

Claim:
A Loblolly pine tree breeding method comprising: (a) mixing pollen obtained from a breeding group comprising a plurality of parental Loblolly pine trees to obtain a pollen polymix; (b) pollinating female reproductive structures from each parental Loblolly pine tree in the plurality of Loblolly pine parental trees with the pollen polymix to obtain a plurality of progeny lots, wherein each progeny lot comprises seeds obtained from a different cross between the pollen polymix and each different Loblolly pine parental tree of the plurality of Loblolly pine parental trees; (c) evaluating progeny Loblolly pine trees grown from each of the progeny lots using objective criteria to obtain a phenotype score; (d) determining the pedigree of a plurality of Loblolly pine progeny trees using DNA analysis; (e) using the pedigree and phenotype score to identify a plurality of elite Loblolly pine trees having an acceptable level of relatedness for inclusion in a breeding group and (f) using the breeding group identified in step (e) in a next generation of tree breeding to produce an advanced generation of Loblolly pine trees having increased genetic gain.