EFFECT OF INBREEDING AND CROSSING INBRED LINES ON THE WEIGHT OF PEACH FRUIT

Three consecutive cycles of self-pollination were started with two parent varieties, Redwing and Southland. In each family, the individual with the best commercial value was selected and self-pollinated to obtain the next generation. At the third cycle of self-pollination, the best individuals from the two families were then hybridized in order to evaluate the effect of heterosis.

In the self-pollinated families, we did not observe any significant decline in the mean fruit weight which would have indicated an inbreeding effect for this character. The mean fruit weight in the hybrid family was closer to that of the third self-pollination cycle of Southland, which has larger fruits than Redwing. Therefore, the hybrids showed a dominating effect of the large fruit character over the small fruit character. However, the number of inbreeding cycles was not sufficient to appreciate the effect of heterosis.

Successive self-pollinations can be used to eliminate unfavourable agronomic characters and to improve potential parents for their use in a hybridization programme.

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