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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #216318
Title: Inheritance of Phenological, Vegetative, and Fruit Chemistry Traits in Black Raspberry

Author
item DOSSETT, MICHAEL - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Lee, Jungmin
item Finn, Chad

Submitted to: Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/29/2008
Publication Date: 5/29/2008
Citation: Dossett, M., Lee, J., Finn, C.E. 2008. Inheritance of phenological, vegetative, and fruit chemistry traits in black raspberry. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 133:408-417.

Interpretive Summary: Black raspberry fruit has been increasingly in demand due to interest in their anthocyanins and antioxidant properties. This has helped renew interest in the development of new cultivars with enhanced nutraceutical properties that may be better adapted to the pest and environmental stresses of the Pacific Northwest where the crop is predominantly grown. Certain parents were crossed with each other in a pattern that allowed us to study the inheritance of plant and fruit traits, including fruit chemistry. The populations were grown in Corvallis, Oregon. Samples of ripe berries were collected from each of several hundred plants, and pooled by family to study variation in fruit chemistry properties including pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, anthocyanin profiles, and total anthocyanins. Offspring performance could generally be predicted by parental performance although the rate of inheritance ranged from fairly low to high. The results indicated a lack of heritable genetic variation in much of the germplasm base and a need for greater diversity. We have begun collecting wild plants from within the native range of black raspberry in eastern North America with the goal of increasing diversity.

Technical Abstract: Increased interest in the anthocyanins and antioxidant properties of black raspberries has led to an increased demand for the fruit in recent years. This has helped renew interest in the development of new cultivars with enhanced nutraceutical properties and that may be better adapted to the biotic and abiotic stresses of the Pacific Northwest. An incomplete, partial diallel, consisting of ten parents (eight cultivars, a wild selection, and a bulk pollen sample from R. leucodermis Dougl. ex Torr. & Gray) and 26 sibling families, was constructed for the study of variation and inheritance of vegetative, reproductive and fruit chemistry traits in black raspberry. Sibling families of one to eight plants were established at the Oregon State University Lewis Brown Farm in Corvallis, Oregon, and were arranged as a randomized complete block design with four blocks. Samples of 25 ripe berries were collected from each plant, and pooled by family within blocks, to study variation in fruit chemistry properties including pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, anthocyanin profiles, and total anthocyanins. General combining ability (GCA) effects were larger than specific combining ability effects for all traits and narrow-sense heritability estimates were generally moderate to high (h2 = 0.30-0.81). Despite these results, however, statistically significant GCA values were limited to just a few of the parents, indicating a lack of heritable genetic variation in much of the germplasm base and a need for greater diversity.