Breeding for New Traits in Pear

The inheritance of the red colour character in European pear (Pyrus communis) and its map position in the mutated cultivar ‘Max Red Bartlett’

“…The position of red colour in linkage group 4 of ‘Max Red Bartlett’ described in the present study does not represent a discrepancy with the above reports because of the mutational origin of ‘Max Red Bartlett’, a red‐skin but not red‐flesh sport of ‘Bartlett’. Moreover, the red colour observed in ‘Max Red Bartlett’ regresses after a few years in the whole plant or in a part thereof (Bellini and Nin 2002), suggesting that a transposable element may be involved in the red mutation, as in grape (Kobayashi et al. 2004).…”

“…It is well known that in pear skin-colour compounds like chlorophyll, anthocyanins, carotenoids, and others are under single-gene control (Baldini and Scaramuzzi 1982). In this study, the inheritance of red colour is investigated in seven segregating progeny and the red-skinned sport ÔMax Red BartlettÕ was used in six of them.…”

Mapping of an anthocyanin-regulating MYB transcription factor and its expression in red and green pear, Pyrus communis

“…In contrast, 'Max Red Bartlett' fruit is dark red, almost purple, throughout maturation, but then the intensity of this coloration decreases and the fruit turns bright scarlet when ripe. This mutation is unstable and is known to revert from the 'Max Red Bartlett' to the 'Williams' phenotype in whole branches, or individual fruits, where it may involve sectors of fruit skin or its whole surface [1].…”

Susceptibility of European pear germplasm to Cacopsylla pyri under Mediterranean climatic conditions

“…Since the 1980s the creation of new pear cultivars with resistance to psylla has been included as an important objective in some European pear breeding programs (Italy: DCA-BO, ISF-Forlì, DISPAA-FI; France: INRA; Romania: RIFG -Pitesti-Maracineni; see references for definition of abbreviations) (Rivalta and Dradi, 1998;Bellini et al, 2000;Musacchi et al, 2005;Lespinasse et al, 2008); unfortunately the rapid transfer of resistance into cultivars with Pyrus communis type fruit is limited by the negative fruit characteristics (small size and/or gritty and course texture) of both East Asian pear species (P. ussuriensis, P. pyrifolia, P. longipes, P. serotina or P. betulaefolia) and interspecific hybrids between P. communis and P. ussuriensis, although these last have shown high levels of resistance to C. pyri (Braniste et al, 1994;Berrada et al, 1995;Bellini and Nin, 2002;Robert et al, 2004;Nin et al, 2012). The transfer of resistance to C. pyri by interspecific crosses between the European pear species P. communis and Asian pear species such as P. ussuriensis and P. serotina followed by modified backcross to part of the progeny was demonstrated to be possible (Pasqualini et al, 2006), but it occurs gradually and it is probably controlled by several genes.…”