Assessment of Combining Ability Effects for several Yield and Quality Traits in a Complete Diallel Cross of Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.)

Sorin Ciulca,Radu Şumălan,Adriana Ciulca,Emilian Madoşa,Natalia Carp

doi:10.15835/nbha45210873

Abstract

Information on the inheritance of yield and quality traits is important for the selection of parents and breeding approaches to be adopted for the improvement of strawberry. The present study aimed to estimate the combining ability and gene effects for plant yield, fruits number/plant, fruit weight, pulp firmness and sugar content of strawberries in order to identify the best genitors and promising crosses, in 30 hybrids of six parents. The additive and non-additive gene action as well as the maternal effects was involved in the inheritance of the studied traits. For all traits, especially for fruit weight and plant yield, the additive gene action was more important than the non-additive one. The parents ‘A1’ and ‘Alba’ showed a higher concentration of favourable alleles for plant yield and fruits number, and they will allow the increase of plant yield when used as a donor of pollen and the increase of fruit number when used as a recipient of pollen. The variety ‘Marmolada’ was a good general combiner for sugar content, pulp firmness and fruit weight, especially when used as a female genitor. These parents could be used in hybridization in order to accelerate the genetic improvement of some yield and quality traits in strawberries. The cross ‘Mira’ × ‘Onda’ expressed desirable specific combining ability effects for yield traits and can be successfully use in strawberries breeding programs. In the case of ‘Alba’ × ‘Clery’ there is a high probability to select progenies with valuable yield traits associated with sweet fruits.

Highlights

Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) are cultivated worldwide for their fruit, and are widely appreciated for their characteristic aroma and sweetness
Performance of the parents and crosses The highest variation among the parents and among the crosses was recorded for pulp firmness, while the lowest variability between the parents was registered for fruit weight, and for sugar content among crosses, respectively (Table 1)
The predominance of additive effects in the inheritance of different traits in strawberries was reported by various researchers: the ascorbic acid content (Lundergan and Moore, 1975); the fruit ripening time (Hortyński, 1987); the tolerance to Verticillium dahliae (Masny et al, 2014b); the fruit firmness (Shaw et al, 1987; Yashiro et al, 2002; Masny et al, 2005); the fruit weight (Simpson and Sharp, 1988; Masny et al, 2005; Masny et al, 2014a); the susceptibility to grey mould (Masny et al, 2005); plant yield

Summary

Introduction

Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) are cultivated worldwide for their fruit, and are widely appreciated for their characteristic aroma and sweetness. Fruit quality and yield depend on many factors, e.g. the cultivar, weather conditions during the growing season and above all agronomic practices (Paszko et al, 2014). The number of fruits is dependent on flower formation and development. The plants with large fruits have bigger leaves, a larger photosynthetic area, and thicker petioles and flower stalks (Hortyński et al, 1991). These components must be combined in order to ensure higher levels of yield and a high amount of marketable fruits (Carp and Ciulca, 2016)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion