INHERITANCE OF FRUIT-QUALITY TRAITS IN BLUEBERRY

Progenies from a partial diallel mating scheme using 17 highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), lowbush (V. angustifolium Ait.), and half-high (V. corymbosum/V. angustifolium hybrid) parents were subjectively evaluated for fruit color, picking scar, and firmness in two seasons. General combining ability (GCA) mean squares were significant (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01 for all traits), but specific combining ability was significant for no traits (P > 0.05). However, the correlation coefficients between the GCA effects and the parental phenotype scores were low, indicating that selection of parents within this material based on their phenotype may not be indicative of progeny performance. GCA effects depended to some extent on the species ancestry. Vaccinium angustifolium parents produced progeny with relatively dark, soft fruit with large scars. Lowbush parents having light-blue fruit produced segregating progenies that were heavily skewed toward dark fruit, regardless of the color or species ancestry of the other parent. When the highbush and half-high parents were crossed with one another, segregation patterns were typical of predominately additive gene action.