The Main Morphological Characteristics and Chemical Components of Fruits and the Possibilities of Their Improvement in Raspberry Breeding
Irina Titirică,
Ioana A. Roman,
Claudia Nicola,
Monica Sturzeanu,
Elena Iurea,
Mihai Botu,
Radu E. Sestras,
Rodica Pop,
Mădălina Militaru,
Sezai Ercisli,
Adriana F. Sestras
Affiliations
Irina Titirică
Research and Development Station for Plant Culture on Sands, 207220 Calarasi, Romania
Ioana A. Roman
Department of Transversal Competences, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3–5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Claudia Nicola
Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, 402 Mărului Street, 117450 Mărăcineni, Romania
Monica Sturzeanu
Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, 402 Mărului Street, 117450 Mărăcineni, Romania
Elena Iurea
Research Station for Fruit Growing, 3 Ion Vodă cel Viteaz, 707305 Iaşi, Romania
Mihai Botu
Department of Horticulture & Food Science, Faculty of Horticulture, University of Craiova, 200585 Craiova, Romania
Radu E. Sestras
Department of Horticulture and Landscape, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3–5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Rodica Pop
Department of Horticulture and Landscape, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3–5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Mădălina Militaru
Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, 402 Mărului Street, 117450 Mărăcineni, Romania
Sezai Ercisli
Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Adriana F. Sestras
Department of Forestry, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3–5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Raspberry is a delicious fruit with important nutritional and health properties for consumers. The efficiency of achieving raspberry breeding aims such as productivity, fruit quality, and adequate response to stressors, etc., depends directly on knowledge of the inheritance of traits and genetic factors of influence and their pragmatic use. In this study, the main morphological characteristics and chemical components of fruits of 24 raspberry genotypes were studied in a comparative field trial; 14 were promising selections and the other 10 included their parental forms (Autumn Bliss, Glen Moy, Glen Prosen, Opal, Pathfinder, Titan, Tulameen, Veten, Willamette) and Glen Ample cultivar, which was used as control. The results highlighted significant differences and a large variation among the genotypes (between 2.40 and 4.90 g for fruit weight, 0.19–0.47 kg/cane for yield, 50–106 for drupelets/fruit, 10.0–12.7% for dry matter, 0.23–2.00% pectin, 1.61–2.72% glucose, etc.). The inheritance of the analyzed traits, considered quantitative, was different, but a low heritability was recorded for non-marketable fruits and the number of drupelets in fruit. In several hybrid selections, negative heterosis prevailed, highlighting the breeding difficulties of the important desired traits of the species. The values of heterosis and the broad-sense and narrow-sense heritability of some traits demonstrate that, through judiciously choosing parents, raspberry breeding in the desired direction can be successful.
