Parent forms of remontant raspberries in breeding for thornlessness

Among the Russian assortment of remontant (everbearing) raspberries, there are no cultivars with thornless stems. In this regard, our research aims to select parent remontant forms for breeding thornless raspberries, to study the obtained hybrid progeny and to identify promising crossing combinations, as well as to identify thornless selected forms with a complex of economic traits. An assessment of the genetic collection of remontant raspberry cultivars and forms by the degree of thorniness showed that the largest number of samples (22 specimens or 36.7 %) were highly thorny, 19 samples (31.7 %) were moderately thorny (2 points), 10 samples (16.7 %) were weakly thorny (1 point), and 6 (10.0 %) were thornless. In the hybrid progeny of controlled crosses, thornless hybrids were identifi ed in fi ve of twelve families: 1-60-1×9-155-1, 1-60-1×Komsomol’skaya Pravda, 11-165-10×1-60-1, 1-60-1×Salyut, 9-113-1×Salyut. Moreover, all seedlings (80 plants) in the 1-60-1×9-155-1 (ss×ss) combination were thornless, which was theoretically expected. Inclusion of thornless varieties No. 11-165-10, Salyut, and Komsomolskaya Pravda in hybridization with thornless selection No. 1-60-1 enabled us to identify 41.9–44.7 % of thornless seedlings. Therefore, the S gene is in the heterozygous state in these genotypes. In crosses of two thorny parents with heterozygous alleles (Ss×Ss) 9-113-1×Salyut, 17.2 % of absolutely thornless hybrids were isolated. In total, 181 thornless hybrids were obtained from the hybrid fund of controlled crosses, of which four selections were identifi ed based on a set of economic traits. In the 9-113-1×Salyut combination, two thornless selected forms were identifi ed, namely No. 5-171-1 and No. 5-171-3. These, along with being thornless, are distinguished by the upright bush habitus, early ripening, large fruit size, and fruit strength. In the 1-60-1×Salyut family, two selected forms (No. 1-127-1 and No. 1-127-2) were also identifi ed. They combine thornless stems with large fruit size, productivity, and fruit strength. In addition, among the seedlings from cross-pollination populations of certain selected forms and varieties, four thornless productive remontant (everbearing) selections were identifi ed (No. 3-98-11, 1-43-1, 2-84-2, 6-104-10).

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