ISHS Acta Horticulturae 694: International Symposium on Harnessing the Potential of Horticulture in the Asian-Pacific Region
AN EFFECTIVE SELECTION STRATEGY FOR BREEDING PREMIUM QUALITY PEARS |
| Authors: | S.M. Liu, S.M. Richards, D.W. Haberfield, G.R. McGregor |
| Keywords: | Pyrus communis, fruit quality, selection, sensory evaluation |
| Abstract:
A three-step selection strategy has recently been employed by the Australian National Pear Breeding Program (ANPBP) for the first stage of evaluating segregating seedling populations. Visual selection, mainly for good fruit appearance, was conducted in orchards prior to fruit maturity to identify seedling progenies to be harvested and matured post cool storage. After fruit maturation, seedlings with inedible fruit flesh were discarded. A detailed sensory evaluation was then conducted on fruit from retained seedlings, using a three-person panel to identify seedlings with premium fruit quality. Six and nine attributes were assessed for fruit appearance and eating quality respectively, using hedonic scales. Premium fruit quality is defined as pears with both commercially acceptable fruit appearance (  cv. ‘Williams’ Bon Chretien’) and eating quality (cv. ‘Beurre Bosc’). This strategy has enabled us to evaluate about 400 fruit samples weekly post fruit maturation.
The results of 10 crosses indicated that about 95% of fruited seedlings were eliminated after selection for fruit visual appearance and then edible fruit flesh.
Of the seedlings retained, only above 10% was selected due to their premium fruit quality.
All selected seedlings were from five crosses, and between 3 and 32 seedlings with edible fruit flesh were required to derive one selection with premium fruit quality.
Phenotypic correlations were weak between fruit appearance and eating quality attributes (r2<0.10). Therefore, the frequency of desired segregates is very low in pear breeding populations ( >0.4%), but the strategy is effective in identifying them.
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