Combining Ability Analysis for Selected Plant Traits in Gooseberry

Abstract

Gooseberry (Ribes grossularia) belongs to a group of minor fruit crops. However, in some countries such as Poland, Germany, or Scandinavia, gooseberries are cultivated on large commercial plantations. Increasing gooseberry production is of high economic interest for many gooseberry growers. Therefore, targeted gooseberry breeding for high productivity and good fruit quality, combined with resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, is of particular interest. A half-diallel mating design (IV Griffing's method) among 10 parental cultivars of gooseberry producing 45 sibling families was constructed to study the general and specific combining ability (GCA and SCA, respectively) effects of selected traits, which include plant vigor, plant habit, shoot thorniness, yield, plant and fruit susceptibility to powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca mors-uvae), and plant susceptibility to leaf spot (Drepanopezizia ribis). The 45 seedling families were grown at the Experimental Orchard belonging to the Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice in central Poland. The experiment was planted in a randomized complete block design with three replicates (plots) each composed of 15 seedlings (the total trial included 2025 plants). Measurements and observations were recorded yearly for each seedling from 2008 to 2012. The results showed that non-additive effects are predominantly involved in the genetic variation for all evaluated traits, whereas the additive effects play a relatively minor role in the genetic variations of these traits. Large, significant SCA effects were found for shoot thorniness, fruit weight, fruit susceptibility to powdery mildew, and plant susceptibility to leaf spot and nonsignificant variation in SCA effects was observed for the other traits (plant vigor, plant habit, fruit yield, fruit color, and plant susceptibility to powdery mildew). Significant GCA effects were limited to a few of the parents and some traits. The cultivars Worchesterberry and White Smith had good GCA effects and therefore are good parents for breeding thornless cultivars. 'Pax' and 'Martlet' are desirable genotypes for developing new cultivars with large fruit. The cultivars Martlet and Kamieniar are good parents for low fruit susceptibility to powdery mildew, and they may be efficient parents in breeding programs focused on increasing resistance/tolerance to this disease in new cultivars. Based on our results, we discuss strategies for gooseberry breeding programs and provide better insight into the genetic control of the traits studied.

Breeding value of selected dessert strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivars for ripening time, fruit yield and quality

“…Thus, a parent to be considered for the quantitative trait, is selected based upon its ability to pass this trait onto progeny (Baker 1978;Vieira et al 2009). Cross-breeding involving the use of parents characterized by significantly positive GCA effects for a given functional trait that considerably increases the likelihood of obtaining hybrid progenies with the desired values of that trait (Bestfleisch et al 2014;Masny et al 2014;Pluta et al 2014). Specific combining ability (SCA) of a parental genotypes pair for a particular trait is a non-additive genetic interaction (dominance and epistasis) between both parents that is expressed in their progeny (Griffing 1956a, b;Baker 1978).…”

“…It represents the difference between the average value of the trait revealed in the progeny (fullsib progeny of two parental forms) and the sum of the GCA effects for these parental forms (Bestfleisch et al 2014). The GCA and SCA effects of the parents included in a cross design are measures of their breeding value for the traits of interest and determine their usefulness in breeding programmes that aim at improvement of specific traits (Baker 1978;Bestfleisch et al 2014;Pluta et al 2014).…”

“…As in other fruit crops, these include heritability, variance components and correlations, as well as the combining ability of potential parental genotypes such as cultivars, clones, selections, and germplasm accessions (Yao and Mehlenbacher 2000;Pluta et al 2014). Previous studies on the inheritance patterns of strawberry traits showed high heritability in the narrow sense for traits such as fruit firmness (Hansche et al 1968;Mori 2000;Masny et al 2010b), fruit ripening time and mean fruit weight (Barritt 1975(Barritt , 1976, and the ease of calyx separation from the fruit (Masny et al 2010b).…”

Hybrid performance and heterosis in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne), regarding acidity, soluble solids and dry matter content in fruits

“…, Pluta et al. ). Evaluation of the effects of GCA can be made on the basis of cross‐breeding carried out in different systems (factorial, diallelic), but this requires a huge number of matings.…”

“…A parent under consideration for the quantitative trait is thus selected based on its ability to pass this trait onto progeny (Vieira et al 2009). Cross-breeding involving the use of parents characterized by significantly positive GCA effect for a given functional trait significantly increases the likelihood of obtaining hybrid progeny with the desired values of that trait (Bestfleish et al 2014, Masny et al 2014, Pluta et al 2014). Evaluation of the effects of GCA can be made on the basis of cross-breeding carried out in different systems (factorial, diallelic), but this requires a huge number of matings.…”