Inheritance patterns of major phenological traits in pear and breeding effectiveness of parental varieties

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 98 - 107

Kerem Mertoğlu , Mehmet Polat , Yasemin Evrenosoğlu

https://doi.org/10.31015/2025.1.12

Abstract

This study was conducted to plan targeted breeding programs in pear cultivation and, as a result, genetic parameters of major phenological traits (full bloom time, harvest time, and the duration from full bloom to harvest) were calculated along with the breeding values of parental varieties for these traits. In this context, phenological records of 2,051 hybrid plants obtained from 37 crossing combinations were collected. It was determined that all examined traits were quantitative. The genetic effect on the inheritance of full bloom time was found to be low at 31%, whereas it was higher for harvest time (83%) and the duration from full bloom to harvest (86%). In the development of early-maturing genotypes, the ‘Akça’ variety stood out both as a maternal parent (204.88 days) and as a pollinator (211.32 days). For late-maturing genotypes, ‘Kieffer’ (236.11 days) as a maternal parent and ‘Ankara’ (239.09 days) as a pollinator were prominent. Among the study materials, hybrids of ‘Williams×Conference,’ which bloomed after the 100th day of the year and completed their physiological development in approximately 150 days, showed promise for breeding late-blooming, late-maturing genotypes. Conversely, the ‘Santa Maria×Akça’ combination, which bloomed in the same period and required less than 100 days from full bloom to harvest, was significant for developing late-blooming, early-maturing genotypes. The results of this study provide valuable insights for planning new breeding projects addressing the impacts of global climate change.

Keywords

Phenology, Heterosis, Inheritance, Hybrid, Pyrus communis L.

Ethical Statement

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors.

Project Number

TOVAG 106O719 and TOVAG 110O938

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