3.1. Differences between Provenances and Contribution to Variance
The determination of primary components and resin quality is important for commercialization with industries that use this raw material for specific products [
2]. The hypothesis of differences between provenances in the resin characteristics evaluated is accepted; this highlights the importance of the study of provenances to define seed sources [
18,
29] for resin-producing plantations. In this regard, if the aim is to produce resin with a high rosin content, seeds should be collected from the El Tizne provenance; conversely, if resin with a high turpentine content is desired, seeds from the Sesteadero provenance should be chosen. On the other hand, seeds from El Nanche are not recommended due to their high water content and low rosin and turpentine content. The San Pedro provenance is interesting because its resin has a lower water content and is in second place in percentage of rosin and turpentine content. Differences in primary resin components have been reported in Indonesian
P. merkusii provenances [
19]; as well as between
P. halepensis provenances in resin yield and essential oil composition [
24].
The percentage of rosin of all the provenances studied was higher than that reported for plantations and natural forests of the same species (75 %) in Colombia [
4,
23]. The percentage of rosin of the Sesteadero and El Nanche provenances were lower than that reported for the species in plantations (82.1 %) in Brazil [
21]; but the rest of the provenances studied presented higher values. On the contrary, the percentage of turpentine of all the provenances was lower than that reported (12.7 to 14.55 %) for the same species [
21,
23]. Therefore, it can be affirmed that the rosin content of El Tizne, San Pedro, Las Tejas and Sesteadero is high in reference to previous studies [
4,
21,
23].
Compared to other resin pine species, the percentage of rosin of all
P. oocarpa provenances was higher than that obtained for
P. caribaea Morelet var.
caribaea Bar.
et Gol. (64 to 70 %) in Cuba [
2],
P. patula (74.55 %) in Colombia [
3,
23]. Likewise, the provenances of
P. merkusii presented lower rosin content (72.0 to 78.0 %) [
19] and was only higher than the percentage determined for the El Nanche provenance of
P. oocarpa. On the contrary, higher percentages of rosin were reported for
P. elliottii Engelm var.
elliottii (78.9 %),
P. caribaea Mor. var.
bahamensis Bar.
et Gol. (80.3 %) and
P. kesiya Royle
ex Gordon (87.3 %) [
21]. Meanwhile, the turpentine percentages of all provenances was lower than reported (14.55 to 20.00 %) for other resin pine species [
2,
3,
19,
21,
23]; except
P. kesiya, which had lower percent turpentine (7.10 %) [
21] Compared to most
P. oocarpa provenances evaluated in this study.
Therefore, in general, it can be stated that the resin from the
P. oocarpa provenances in southern Mexico are suitable for the production of rosin and would be used in the adhesives, elastomers, printing ink, chewing gum, soaps, detergents and paints industries [
3,
4,
20].
Regarding resin quality indices, in general all provenances presented low values of saponification and acidity [
3]. However, the differences between provenances in these parameters allow the selection of collection sites, depending on the type of industry that demands the resin. Sesteadero resin, being finer and less acidic, has a higher fraction of essential oils, so it can be used in the pharmaceutical industry [
30]. This, in a way, is logical because the resin from this source had the highest proportion of turpentine. It is reported that turpentine from other populations of
P. oocarpa in Mexico are suitable for the pharmaceutical industry because they have high contents of alpha pinene, beta pinene and L-limonene [
31]. The resin from San Pedro and Las Tejas, being denser and more acidic, respectively, can be used for the manufacture of soaps, shampoos and conditioners [
30]. Differences between provenances in acidity and saponification indices have also been found in
P. merkusii [
20].
The values of both indexes, although lower, were close to the values reported for the same species in Colombia (IS= 134.0 to 137.35 mg KOH.g
_1; IA= 133.89 to 135.0 mg KOH.g
_1) [
4,
23]. The saponification index and acidity index values reported for
P. oocarpa in Colombia indicated medium to high resin quality; therefore, according to the values obtained, the provenances analyzed in this study presented intermediate quality [
23]. It has been indicated that the best quality resin, usually have acidity indexes of 160 to 170 [
3,
23]; however, quality is relative and depends on the industry. Thus, resins with lower saponification and acidity values have a higher proportion of essential oils and are intended for the pharmaceutical industry; on the other hand, resins with high acidity and saponification values are important for cosmetic uses, production of shampoos, soaps and conditioners [
30]. Therefore, resin industries have their own quality specifications depending on the product they produce [
3]. The saponification and resin acidity index of the
P. oocarpa provenances were similar to the values obtained in the resin (IS= 121.2 to 132.6 mg KOH.g
_1 ; IA= 112.40 to 120.85 mg KOH.g
_1) of
P. tropicalis Morelet
, P. cubensis Griseb.
, P. occidentalis Sw. and
P. caribaea [
32], which were found to be excellent for obtaining paper siccatives, industrial emulsifiers, disinfectants, mortar and concrete additives, and specialized lubricants [
32], therefore,
P. oocarpa resin can also be used for these purposes.
Knowledge of the levels and structure of variation in traits of interest in forest trees is essential to guide selection efforts in forest higher values of both indices were obtained for
P. oocarpa in plantations in Peru (IA= 198.0, IS= 291.91 mg KOH.g
_1) [
22]; however, these high values represent low resin quality if the purpose is to obtain resin oil [
22]. Likewise,
P. caribaea var.
caribaea,
P. patula,
P. merkusii present higher values of acidity and saponification (IA= 133.89 to 223.4 mg KOH.g
_1, IS= 136.20 to 217.90 mg KOH.g
_1) [
2,
3,
23,
33,
34,
35,
36].
The low values of the acidity and saponification index of the
P. oocarpa provenances, compared to the high values obtained in
P. oocarpa plantations in Peru, are possibly because, in this research, no chemical stimulant was used during resin extraction. These indices were very high when chemical stimulant was used in the resin extraction process of other species [
22,
33,
35]. For its part, the addition of maleic anhydrous acid increased the acidity and saponification values of
P. merkusii resin [
33]. Likewise, the oxidation of the resin increases the acidity and saponification values [
3,
22], due to the fact that the proportion of acids present in the resin is modified [
23]. The resin sample collection method for this study was effective, as it did not allow contact with the external environment and contamination; therefore, it prevented oxidation. The differences between the results obtained and those of other species could be due to various factors, including interspecific effects, tree age and diameter, facing direction of the wounds, sample handling, resin collection system and timing, sampling duration, cultivation site, resin chemical compounds, and possibly genetic improvement of the species [
3,
4,
22,
31]. In countries with a tradition in resin production (e.g. China, Cuba and Brazil), higher yielding phenotypes have been selected [
8,
38,
39,
40]. Possibly the selection was oriented towards phenotypes with high acidity and saponification values with the aim of producing resin for the soap, shampoo and conditioner industry [
30].
Knowledge of the levels and structure of variation in characteristics of interest in forest trees is essential to guide selection efforts in forest genetic improvement [
18,
29]. In general, the low contribution of provenance to the total variance of the primary components (rosin, turpentine and water) and resin quality of
P. oocarpa indicated a low degree of geographic differentiation for these traits. On the other hand, the high contribution of the error to the total variance indicated that the greatest variation was concentrated among trees within provenances, so that these characteristics (components and resin quality) have strong genetic control [
37]. Genetic control was moderate to high for the density of resin canals in
P. oocarpa trees of high resin productivity in populations of central Mexico [
10]. Likewise, genetic control of resin production was high in
P. pinaster,
P. massoniana Lamb.,
P. caribaea Mor. var.
hondurensis Bar. & Gol. and
P. merkusii [
8,
9,
19,
39,
40,
41,
42]. From the point of view of genetic improvement, the results of this research indicated that, in order to increase the genetic gain in resin components and quality, efforts should be oriented to select trees within each provenance [
17,
37].
The distribution of variation in resin characteristics in this study was similar to that of resin ducts in high-yielding
P. oocarpa trees from other populations, where error had a high contribution (87.5 to 100 %) to total variance [
10]. In contrast, the low contribution of provenance to the total variance of resin characteristics was contrary to the high contribution of this factor (33.85 to 48.65 %) to the total variance in seed emergence characteristics of the same trees [
17]. This shows that sources of variation such as provenances and trees differentially influence resin and seed characteristics, possibly because there is no positive genetic correlation between seed and resin characteristics. However, for other species such as
P. massoniana, P. taeda L. and
P. elliottii, resin yield presented positive genetic correlation with normal diameter, height, volume, number of branches, number of whorls and crown variables [
39,
42,
43]. This is important from the standpoint of forest genetic improvement; for
P. oocarpa, selection should be directed at the provenance level or at the level of individual trees within provenances, depending on the trait to be improved.
3.3. Association between Geographic and Environmental Variables with Resin Components and Quality
The significant association between plant characteristics with elevation may represent adaptive response [
28,
45]. The correlation between percent turpentine with geographic and climatic factors is attributed to local adaptations [
24]. Therefore, among the characteristics evaluated in this research, the percentage of turpentine content of
P. oocarpa populations in southern Mexico may be an adaptive response because there is a pattern of clinal genetic differentiation. In contrast, the percentage of rosin content, as well as the acidity index and the saponification index possibly do not represent an adaptive response [
28,
45]. Similar to the results of this study, oleoresin yield of
P. halepensis and
P. merkusii decrease as elevation increases [
19,
24]; conversely, turpentine yield of
P. merkusii is positively correlated with elevation [
19].
The effect of elevation has been determined for other
P. oocarpa traits, although not with the same pattern. Contrary to the negative relationship between elevation and percent turpentine, elevation was positively associated with germination parameters in the same provenances [
17], which suggests that elevation has a differential influence on the traits in the same provenances. Likewise, in populations from Michoacán, Mexico, elevation was negatively associated with the number of cotyledons [
27].
Longitude also had an effect on turpentine content, indicating that as the provenances are located further eastward, the turpentine content is lower. The effect of this geographical factor on resin characteristics and components of the
Pinus genus has not been reported. On the contrary, the effect of latitude on the chemical constitution of
P. silvestris resin has been observed; the concentration of total phenolics and monoterpenes, individual resin acids, palustric and neoabietic acids, as well as some individual monoterpenes (limonene, tricyclo, camphene, f-pinene + sabinene and hornyl acetate) were higher in northern origins [
25]. In this investigation, although the correlation between latitude with turpentine percentage was high, it was not significant (r= 0.832, p= 0.0514).
The significant relationship between the percentage of turpentine of
P. oocarpa with climatic variables is logical due to the relationship between elevation and climate [
17,
28]; however, contrary to the negative relationship with elevation and latitude, most of the climatic variables with a significant relationship were positively related to the percentage of turpentine. This pattern of association between turpentine percentage with elevation (negative) and climatic variables (mostly positive) was contrary to the pattern found for seed emergence characteristics of the same provenances with elevation (positive) and environmental variables (mostly positive) [
17]. The positive relationship between mean annual temperature and precipitation with the percentage of turpentine somehow coincided with what was reported in populations of
P. oocarpa in Michoacán, Mexico, where it was determined that the semi-warm sub-humid climate and higher temperature favor resin production [
11]. Similar to what was obtained in this study, the variability of
P. halepensis resin chemistry depended on bioclimatic indices of temperature such as continentality index, ombrothermal index, summer precipitation for the three warmest consecutive summer months, and summer drought index [
24]). In addition, the essential oil profile of
P. peuce resin was positively correlated with bioclimatic parameters, which was not the case for
P. heldreichii Christ [
26].
In this study, rosin percentage, water percentage, and acidity and saponification indices did not present significant correlation with geographic and climatic variables possibly because these resin characteristics may have greater genetic control independent of climatic fluctuations [
26,
42]. On the other hand, it is possible that these resin characteristics of
P. oocarpa are related to soil type and geological substrate [
26]. In Michoacán, Mexico, it was determined that chromic luvisol soil type is related to higher resin production of
P. oocarpa [
11]. Another explanation is that the relationship between percent rosin, percent water and resin quality indicators do not have a simple linear relationship with geographic and climatic factors [
26].
P. oocarpa seedling growth presented a quadratic correlation with altitude and annual humidity index in populations of Michoacán, Mexico [
28].
Likewise, the lack of relationship between rosin percentage and resin quality with geographic and climatic factors may be attributed to the existence of pleiotropy and genetic linkage disequilibrium [
39,
40,
42], which may cause positive association between resin characteristics with growth variables [
40]. These hypotheses should be tested in
P. oocarpa in future research. In plantations of
P. oocarpa in Peru, the saponification index presented significant linear correlation with tree diameter, but not for the acidity index [
22]. For other species such as
P. caribaea var.
hondurensis and
P. massoniana, resin yield was correlated with normal diameter, height, stem volume and number of live branches [
39,
40].