HERITABILITY, GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC CORRELATIONS, AND PREDICTED SELECTION RESPONSE OF QUANTITATIVE TRAITS IN PEACH - II - AN ANALYSIS OF SEVERAL FRUIT TRAITS
Vab. Desouza et al., HERITABILITY, GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC CORRELATIONS, AND PREDICTED SELECTION RESPONSE OF QUANTITATIVE TRAITS IN PEACH - II - AN ANALYSIS OF SEVERAL FRUIT TRAITS, Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 123(4), 1998, pp. 604-611
Thirteen peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] fruit characteristics were
investigated for 3 years, 1993, 1994, and 1995, in College Station, T
exas, to determine heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations,
and predicted response to selection. Seedlings of 108 families resulti
ng from crosses among 42 peach cultivars and selections were used in t
he evaluations. A mixed linear model, with years treated as fixed and
additive genotypes as random factors, was employed to analyze the data
. Best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) was used to estimate fixed ef
fects. Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) was used to estimate varia
nce components, and a multiple trait model was used to estimate geneti
c and phenotypic covariances between traits. Genetic and phenotypic co
rrelations greater than or equal to 0.65 and <0.30 were considered str
ong or very strong and weak, respectively. Date of ripening, fruit dev
elopment period (FDP) and date of full bloom had the highest heritabil
ity (h(2)) estimates, 0.94, 0.91, and 0.78, respectively. Fruit cheek
diameter and titratable acidity (h(2) = 0.31) were the traits with the
lowest estimates. Fruit development period, fruit blush, and date of
ripening had the highest predicted selection responses, whereas fruit
suture, fruit cheek, L/W12 (ratio fruit length to average fruit diamet
ers), and fruit tip had the lowest values. Most genetic correlations w
ere greater than or equal to 0.30 and were, in general, much higher th
an the corresponding phenotypic correlations. All four measures of fru
it size were genetically and phenotypically very strongly correlated.
Important genetic correlation estimates were also observed for date of
ripening with FDP (r(a) = 0.93), date of ripening and FDP with fruit
blush (r(a) = -0.77, r(a )= -0.72), SS (percent soluble solids) (r(a)
= 0.63, r(a) = 0.62) and TA (r(a) = 0.55, r(a )= 0.64), and SS with TA
(r(a) = -0.56). Direct selection practiced solely for early ripening
and short FDP is expected to have a greater effect on correlated trait
s than direct selection for early bloom and large fruit mass.