The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

The genetic variation in commercial peach germplasm is low.  Closely related species such as Prunus dulcis (almond), P. kansuensis (kansu peach) and P. davidiana (davids peach) represent valuable sources of genetic variation.  These species have been used to a limited extent in rootstock breeding but have been largely ignored in scion breeding.  The reluctance to use related species in peach scion breeding results from the high penalty in fruit quality of early generation crosses and the number of generations required to produce selections with commercial fruit size and quality. Large population sizes are needed to reduce linkage drag.  The generation of large populations from controlled crosses is very laborious in peach due to the low seed content of fruit and the low fruit set of hand pollinations.  In this work we present a breeding scheme that uses male sterility to enhance outcrossing in peach, facilitating the generation of large segregating populations for recurrent selection.