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- Author or Editor: James J. Luby x
- HortScience x
Breeders of horticultural food crops are usually concerned with multiple traits related to yield and quality as well as other traits such as biotic and abiotic stresses. Yield in these crops is not solely tonnage of biomass produced in the field. Rather, it is the proportion of the crop that can be harvested and brought to market in a condition and at a price acceptable to the consumer. Quality may include flavor, color, shape, size, degree of damage, nutrient levels, and traits that permit greater perceived food safety or environmental sustainability. Some traits may exhibit phenotypic associations. Traits with unfavorable associations will be of concern to the breeder if the cause is unfavorably correlated genetic effects, especially those resulting from pleiotropy. Several multiple trait selection schemes have been developed, including independent culling levels, tandem selection, and index selection. These schemes can result in improvement even for traits with unfavorable associations. However, the breeder must have a strong rationale for each trait addressed in a breeding program because each additional trait necessitates larger breeding populations and more resources. Thus, the breeder's first challenge for each crop is to determine which traits are most important and which issues are most amenable to a breeding solution.
Abstract
The large number of horticultural crops represents a great genetic diversity. This diversity is important in numerous ways such as in pollination control, product use, and environmental requirements for the production and handling of seeds, propagules, and the commercial product, to name only a few. The diversity is reflected further in the business structure of horticulture and, most relevant to our discussion, to relationships at the interface between the public and the private sectors in crop improvement.
Root sections of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait. cv. Searles) were microscopically examined to document the typical anatomy of cranberry roots and changes in root anatomy in response to N-form and solution pH. Cranberry cuttings were rooted, then established in hydroponic conditions with three N and two pH regimes. The three N regimes with equal N levels were 1) NH4-N alone, 2) NH4/NO3-N in combination, or 3) NO3-N alone. pH was maintained at 4.5 or 6.5. Root apical regions were examined using phase contrast, bright field, and epifluorescence microscopy. The cranberry root tip develops with a closed apical organization with the tetrarchal vascular cylinder, cortex, and root cap traceable to independent meristem cell layers. The most obvious treatment difference was an accumulation of unidentified “granules” in the subepidermal layer, readily visible with epifluorescence microscopy with NO3-N alone. Roots produced at pH 4.5 branched less than those at 6.5 and had more “quiescent” root initials; at pH 6.5, these developed more frequently into branch roots.
Three classes of crosses using four genotypes of V. riparia (wild Riverbank grape) as maternal parents were evaluated for evidence of reproductive expression of genetic incongruity. The classes were: I V. riparia x V. vinifera cultivars (European domesticated grape); II V. riparia x French Hybrids (complex interspecific hybrids); III V. riparia x V. riparia. Percent fruit set and seeds per berry were recorded for two years. If incongruity is a factor in interspecific grape crosses, then the values for these traits would be expected to be lower in classes I and II than in class III. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences for some half-sib families. Fruit and seed set were lower in classes I and II than in class III, suggesting that incongruity is operative in wide grape crosses. In the process of creating French hybrids, genomes of several species came together over generations of hybridization. In concert with selection for fertility, repeated interspecific genomic exposure would be expected to have ameliorated the effects of initial incongruity between American species and V. vinifera, increasing their value as genetic bridges in breeding programs.
The change from asexual to sexual propagation for annual and perennial bedding plants has been successfully accomplished for floral crops, e.g., Pelargonium. Seed-propagated cultivars do not necessarily possess the clonal uniformity of vegetatively propagated cultivars. In the development of F1 hybrid garden chrysanthemums, this lack of uniformity was assessed with the use of consumer sensory evaluations. Seedlings (n = 10–20 plants/cross) were transplanted for field trials in St. Paul and five Minnesota branch stations each year during 1988–94 to test for G × E. Early flowering F1 hybrids, developed from inbred parents with general combining ability, were evaluated for flowering earliness, plant uniformity, and a general rating. Consumer rankings of top performers were not significantly different (5% level) from mum breeders. The top performers for all three ratings were selected each year for repeat evaluation the next year. The two highest performing F1 hybrids were submitted for All American Selection Trials in 1995.