Pistachio breeding programs in Iran
The Iranian government and the Nazari Business Group (NBG) have been conducting pistachio rootstock and cultivar development projects in Iran for almost a decade.
NBG has already had some successes in their rootstock development program due to their disciplined methodology.
To avoid the expensive costs of studying all seedlings in the orchard, the first two‐year assessments are carried out in a greenhouse in pots, and promising hybrids are selected and then transferred to the orchard surveys.
In this initial program, the progeny of 222 controlled crosses made in 2013 and 2014 at NBG resulted in the selection of 16 superior hybrids that were announced publicly 2020. Arota – an interspecific pistachio hybrid (Pistacia integerrima ♂ × Pistacia atlantica ♀) – has been released by this breeding program.
The program continues to make different interspecific controlled crosses each year, and promising hybrids are further investigated in the greenhouse and field.
Thus far, two promising (Pistacia integerrima ♂ × Pistacia vera ♀) hybrids from the progeny of 37 controlled crosses made in 2019 and one (Pistacia vera ♂ × Pistacia integerrima ♀) hybrid from the progeny of 9 controlled crosses made in 2020 have been selected and are being examined further in the field.
After initial greenhouse assessments, promising hybrids will be planted in four different locations (Qazvin, Saveh, Kerman, Varamin) that span the range of environments for pistachio cultivation in Iran.
Each hybrid in each location is planted in two separate blocks.
These programs are also supported by micropropagation technologies, and superior individuals are selected and propagated for further assessments.
In addition to blind traditional hybridizations, we have started studying genetic profiles of our pistachio resources using NGS tools to acquire more detailed molecular information to apply to purposeful crossings.
The detailed rootstock and cultivar breeding programs in both sectors are discussed.
Akbari, M., Hokmabadi, H., Hasheminasab, H. and Ferguson, L. (2024). Pistachio breeding programs in Iran. Acta Hortic. 1406, 97-104
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.15
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.15
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.15
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1406.15
Pistacia vera, hybridization, pistachio salinity, Persian pistachio
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