Genetic analysis of fruit traits and selection of superior clonal lines in Akebia trifoliate (Lardizabalaceae)

Abstract

Akebia trifoliata belongs to the Lardizabalaceae family of flowering plants, has tremendous potential as a new fruit crop for further domestication and commercialization in China. However, the selection of A. trifoliata is extremely limited due to lack of information about basic inheritance of fruit traits. In this study, 11 key fruit characters, including single fruit weight (SFW), fruit length (FL), fruit width (FW), peel thickness (PT), peel weight (PW), soluble solids content (SSC), seed weight (SW), pulp weight (PuW), edible ratio (ER), hundred-grain weight (HGW) and seed number (SN) were evaluated, and genetic parameters were analyzed. The results showed that the 11 tested traits have high repeatability range from 0.87 to 0.95. Correlation analysis showed that SFW was positively correlated with FL, FW, PT, PW and PuW, but negatively correlated with ER. The Smith–Hazel-index based multitrait selection was used to select superior lines. The SH selection index identified superior lines with high SFW and ER, and low SN. Taken together, our results provide important information for domestication and breeding program of Akebia trifoliate.