COMBINING ABILITY OF SELECTED DESSERT STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS WITH DIFFERENT FRUIT RIPENING PERIODS

Abstract

The subjects of the study were the strawberry hybrids of the F1 generation, derived from the crossing made between eight cultivars: ‘Darselect’, ‘Selvik’, ‘Elianny’, ‘Susy’, ‘Salsa’, ‘Albion’, ‘Charlotte’ and ‘Filon’ in an incomplete diallel mating design according to Griffing’s method IV. The assessed traits were: fruit ripening time, productivity, fruit size and firmness, as well as soluble solids and ascorbic acid content. Significant differences were found in general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects for most of the traits. The most suitable strawberry for breeding cultivars with fruits for fresh consumption was ‘Charlotte’, as a donor of high productivity and large fruits. Valuable parental cultivars were also: ‘Salsa’ – for large fruit rich in soluble solids, ‘Darselect’ – for high ascorbic acid content, ‘Filon’ – for large fruit and ‘Albion’ – for high productivity. Strawberry ‘Susy’ was the least useful parent for breeding such cultivars. For most families, significantly positive SCA effects were found for the individual traits. Only for 3 families, significantly positive SCA effects were obtained for two or more traits. These are the following families: ‘Selvik’ × ‘Susy’, ‘Selvik’ × ‘Salsa’ and ‘Elianny’ × ‘Filon’.

Keywords

• Fragaria × ananassa
• GCA
• SCA
• breeding value
• productivity
• fruit quality