FRUIT TRAIT SEGREGATION IN A PEACH CROSS BETWEEN DISTANT GENOTYPES

A cross between distant genotypes was performed to introgress novel traits from a wild type peach into commercial cultivars. ‘PI 91459’, an ornamental-like peach (Rutgers University, NJ, USA) was chosen as the female parent for its weeping tree growth and long fruit peduncle. This trait would lessen the possibility of contact between the branch and the fruit during final swell, resulting in possible skin damage at harvest. ‘Bounty’, a yellow peach was chosen as a male for its large fruit size, since the female parent bears very small fruits. Ten seedlings out of the fifteen-tree progeny were randomly selected to measure branch crotch angle, fruit mass and peduncle length. On average, the fruit mass of the progeny was 43% larger than that of the seed parent. The fruit peduncle was 30% longer in the female as compared to the male parent. The progeny mean was close to mid-parent mean. Half of the seedlings had a peduncle length similar to that of the seed parent, which may indicate a Mendelian mechanism of inheritance. The crotch angle was 80°, larger than either parent, conferring a wide spreading growth habit to the tree.