ISHS Acta Horticulturae 410: II International Cherry Symposium
VARIABILITY IN PRUNUS MAHALEB L. FOR CHERRY ROOTSTOCK BREEDING |
| Author: | K. Hrotkó |
| Abstract:
This report is about the variability of Prunus mahaleb (L.) Mill. in the rootstock selection program at the Department of Fruit Growing in Budapest. Three sub-species of mahaleb cherry, ssp. simonkai, ssp. cupaniana and ssp. mahaleb (Terpó, 1968) occur in Hungary with great natural variability. Collection and research on these sub-species started in the late 1950s (Sebôk, 1968). From among them, one self-fertile clone and some clones with basitonic tendency were selected and tested as cherry rootstocks. In order to enlarge the selection base, inbred populations from flowering of isolated self-fertile trees and hybrids from cross-pollination were produced. Inbreeding of 'Korponay', a self-fertile mahaleb variety, resulted in specimens with high variability. In contrast, the self-fertile 'Heimann X' S1 mahaleb produced a homogenous population, except for 20% with dwarfing characteristics. Generation F1 emerging from cross-pollination of self-sterile clones is homogenous and very vigorous. The variability produced by inbreeding and cross-pollination provided a suitable means to increase the selection base for rootstock breeding. | |
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