ISHS Acta Horticulturae 470: II International Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds
BREEDING AND GENETICS OF PISTACHIO: THE CALIFORNIA PROGRAM |
| Authors: | C.T. Chao, D.E. Parfitt, L. Ferguson, C. Kallsen, J. Maranto |
| Keywords: | Alternaria, disease resistance, yield, growth rate, phenological traits, Pistacia vera L., Phytophthora, rootstocks, selection |
| Abstract:
A pistachio breeding program was initiated in 1989 by D. Parfitt to develop new cultivars for the California industry. The program was begun by developing an initial set of 1940 progeny from 78 different crosses. In 1990, an additional 5470 seedlings were produced from 176 controlled crosses. Progeny from each cross were planted at three locations, Davis-Winters, Kearney Agricultural Center, and near Bakersfield, in a randomized block design with crosses as treatments, permitting performance evaluation in different environments. Fifty-three, 962, and 2943 genotypes flowered in 1994, 1995, and 1996, respectively. Data on flowering, flowering date, sex, tree size as measured by trunk cross sectional area, and disease status were collected on all trees in the breeding program at the three field locations. Nuts were evaluated for number of nuts per tree, % splits, % blanks, wet and dry weight, kernel weight, and volume. Heritability estimates for nut characters, tree size, and Alternaria late blight resistance ranged from 0.88 to 0.99. Several parents were identified that apparently provide a high level of resistance to Alternaria. Phytophthora resistance in both scion accessions and rootstock species combinations are being evaluated at KAC and preliminary results suggest that resistance may be simply inherited. Relationships among various nut parameters and the relationship of tree size to flowering and parentage were also investigated. Replicated advanced selection trails have been established in 1997 to test nine selected genotypes for yield and performance. Preliminary data suggests that yields for some of these selections will be significantly larger than for 'Kerman'. All of the selections have commercial grade nuts and several have improved size and splits vs. 'Kerman'. | |
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