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Abstract
Heritabilities were estimated for 4 measures of bruise-induced enzymatic browning in peaches (Prunus persica L.) Batsch. Two were direct measures: intensity of the brown color (IB) and the diameter of the brown region (DB). Two were indirect measures: activity of polyphenyloxydase (PPO) and the concentration of polyphenols (PPC). The heritability of IB was moderately high (0.35 ± 0.04). That of DB was not significantly different from zero (0.08 ± 0.06). The heritability of PPC was reasonably high (0.38 ± 0.05), and that of PPO moderate (0.26 ± 0.04). Because the heritabilities of IB and PPC are about equal, the rate of reduction in IB resulting from selection on PPC should not be expected to be as great as that resulting from direct selection applied to IB. Thus, at present it appears that the direct measure of IB provides breeders with the best measure, among the 4 studied, of the susceptibility of seedlings to bruise-induced enzymatic browning.