Volume 30 Number 1 Article 30 Pages: 27-28
Year 1976 Month 1
Title: Interspecific Hybridization in Vaccinium
Authors: A.D. Draper, G.J. Galletta, W.T. Brightwell, J.M. Spiers, W.B. Sherman and G. Jelenkovic
Citation
Abstract:
In the blueberry breeding program
we are investigating a number of native
Vaccinium species for characters
important in commercial cultivars.
Commercial blueberry cultivars for
all areas in the region extending from
New Jersey southward through the
Carolinas to Mississippi.
Georgia, and
Florida require some of the same
characteristics: heat tolerance, insect
and disease resistance, plant vigor,
high fruit yields, machine harvestability,
and quality.
Cultivars for northern
areas need greater winterhardiness;
the Gulf Coast areas require lowchilling
types, and in the area from
North Carolina southward, cultivars
need resistance to cane canker and
root rot.
In the breeding program for the
Central Atlantic region we are investigating
a number of Vaccinium species
for these desirable characters.
We made crosses using six species,
(V. atrococcum, V. ashei, V. australe,
V. constablaei, V. darrowi, V. ovatum),
ranging from diploid to hexaploid,
in a manner that tetraploid hybrids
would be obtained.
We assumed that
these hybrids would have to be crossed
at some stage of the program with
tetraploid highbush, the best source
of fruit quality and size.
We have obtained tetraploid hybrids
by crossing diploid V. darrowi
with tetraploid highbush cultivars
'Bluecrop' and 'Berkeley'. All seeds
which germinated from these crosses
appear to be tetraploid.
We have one
tetraploid three-species hybrid that
came from a diploid x hexaploid cross.
The female parent was V. darrowi and
the male parent was a hexaploid hybrid
of V. ashei and V. constablaei.
Another tetraploid three-species hybrid
came from a diploid hybrid of
V. darrowi and V. atrococcum used as
a female and pollinated by 'Bluecrop'.
The two hybrids of V. darrowi and V.
ashei are sterile.
They may be pentaploid.
We have several tetraploid hybrids
from a cross of V. atrococcum
and 'Earlibelle' made by Dr.
Dermen.
An interesting hybrid, US- 125, came
from a cross of hexaploid V. ashei by
diploid V. ovatum, one of the few cluster
fruited species native to the
pacific northwest.
The hybrid is partially
fertile.
These hybrids have been intercrossed
and crossed with highbush
varieties and selections and seedling
populations to be evaluated are in the
field.
Some of the progenies which
came from crosses of (V. darrowi x
Bluecrop) x highbush are outstanding
for vigor, productivity, flavor, color,
and disease resistance and appear to
have low-chilling requirements.
Progenies
from the tetraploid V. atrococcum
are very early ripening, but have
soft fruit with dark color and are less
productive than progenies from V.
darrowi.
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