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Title: GENETIC ANALYSIS OF FREEZING TOLERANCE IN BLUEBERRY (VACCINIUM SECTION CYANOCOCCUS)

Author
item ARORA, RAJEEV - WEST VIRGINIA UNIV
item Rowland, Lisa
item LEHMAN, JEFFREY - OTTERBEIN COLLEGE
item LIM, CHON-CHONG - WEST VIRGINIA UNIV
item PANTA, GANESH - UNIV OF GEORGIA
item VORSA, NICHOLI - RUTGERS UNIV

Submitted to: Journal of Heredity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: An understanding of the genetic control of cold tolerance in woody perennials is important for the effective selection and development of new cultivars with broader climatic adaptation. Blueberry, a small statured woody perennial, is an important small fruit crop in the United States. In a recent survey of blueberry research and extension scientists in the U.S., lack of cold tolerance and susceptibility to spring frosts were identified as the most important genetic limitations of current cultivars. This study was undertaken to study the inheritance and gene action of cold tolerance in segregating populations of blueberry. Bud cold tolerance of uniformly cold acclimated plants of the populations were evaluated with a laboratory-controlled freeze-thaw regime, followed by visual assessment of injury. Cold tolerance was defined as the temperature causing 50 percent of the flower buds to be injured. Inheritance of cold tolerance indicated that: (1) cold sensitivity is a partially dominant trait, (2) there is no maternal influence on cold tolerance, and (3) cold tolerance is controlled by relatively few genes with simple additive and dominant effects. A better understanding of the genetics of cold tolerance, as has been achieved in this study, will allow breeders of woody perennial crops to develop more efficient breeding strategies for increasing cold tolerance of new cultivars.

Technical Abstract: An understanding of the genetic control of freezing tolerance (FT) in woody perennials is important for the effective selection and development of plants with broader climatic adaptation. This study was undertaken to study the inheritance and gene action of FT in segregating populations of a woody perennial blueberry (Vaccinium, section Cyanococcus). Two backcross populations were derived from interspecific hybrids of diploid species V. darrowi and V. caesariense, which are widely divergent in their FT. Bud FT of uniformly cold acclimated plants of parental, F1, and backcross populations were evaluated with a laboratory-controlled freeze-thaw regime, followed by a visual assessment of injury. FT (LT50) was defined as the temperature causing 50 percent of the flower buds to be injured. FT values of the parental and F1 populations indicated that freeze-sensitivity is a partially dominant trait. Results from reciprocal crosses revealed that there is no significant maternal influence on FT. In addition, parental phenotypes were fully recovered in 40 to 42 plants of each testcross population, suggesting that FT is determined by relatively few genes. Generation means analysis revealed that FT in blueberry is controlled largely by additive gene effects and, to a lesser degree, by dominant gene effects.