Work

Heritability of Morpho-Agronomic Traits in Cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum Dunal) and Efficiency of Early Visual Selection for Fruit Yield

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum Dunal) is an underutilized Amazonian fruit species with significant food, nutritional, and economic potential, but its genetic improvement remains limited. This study aimed to estimate the heritability of 13 morpho-agronomic traits in two F2 populations, assess the efficiency of early visual selection, and identify traits associated with fruit yield. Approximately 250 plants from each population were grown in the Central Amazon. One week before the first harvest, plants were visually screened for yield potential, and the selected individuals were further evaluated for fruit traits. Broad-sense heritability (h2) was significant for most traits; the highest values were for number of flowers per plant (h2 = 0.88), petiole length (h2 = 0.87), collar diameter (h2 = 0.71), canopy diameter (h2 = 0.58), and fruit length (h2 = 0.55). Early visual selection achieved ~65% efficiency. Fruit yield was correlated strongly and positively with the number of fruits per plant. These results indicate that phenotypic selection is effective for improving key plant and fruit traits in cocona. Early visual selection can be used to identify high-yielding individuals and the number of fruits per plant can be used as a complementary criterion to enhance selection accuracy for fruit yield.

Source: International Journal of Plant Biology

DOI: 10.3390/ijpb16040121

Authors: Leandro Sousa e Silva, César Augusto Ticona-Benavente

Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia

Language: English

Topic: Genetics and Plant Breeding

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Zero hunger

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,448