Eliminating Zygotic Seedlings in `Turpentine' Mango Rootstock Populations by Visual Roguing

Abstract

The ability to eliminate zygotic seedlings from the polyembryonic mango (Mangifera indica L.) rootstock `Turpentine' by visual roguing was investigated. Four selected populations, A) randomly selected plants, B) plants selected as off-types, C) seedlings that were of `Turpentine' phenotype, and D) seeds where a single seedling emerged, were examined using electrophoretic analysis and five enzyme systems. Significant differences (χ2 = 39.63, P< 0.001) were found among the four categories, with 28% of the random, 66% of the off-type, 10% of the true-to-type, and 54% of the monoembryonic seedlings being zygotic. These data indicate that visual selection for trueness-to-type and roguing for off-types is useful in reducing the frequency of zygotic seedlings among `Turpentine' rootstock plants.