Search

Inheritance of grape berry volatile compounds was studied in the half-sib populations of ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Xiangfei’ during two successive years. Twenty-two volatile compounds were identified via GC–MS. Monoterpenes were detected in the paternal parents ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Xiangfei’, which were Muscat grapes, but not in the non-Muscat maternal parent ‘Jingxiu’. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls and one ester (ethyl acetate) were found in all the parents, 2-ethylhexanol (alcohol) in ‘Jingxiu’ and ‘Muscat of Alexandria’, and hexyl acetate (ester) in ‘Jingxiu’. The paternal effect varied with year, while the inheritance patterns of volatile compounds, except for (Z)-linalool oxide, were stable between years and between populations. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls, two esters and one alcohol were typical quantitative traits in both half-sib populations in 2 years. Most monoterpenes, including geraniol, α-terpineol and linalool, exhibited continuous variation in the half-sib progenies, but some other monoterpenes, such as (Z)-rose oxide, nerol oxide, nerol, neral, geranial and geranic acid, appeared to segregate into presence or absence in the progenies (1:1). However, (Z)-linalool oxide, behaved as a quantitative trait in the ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ population, but segregated into presence or absence (1:1) in the ‘Jingxiu’ × ‘Xiangfei’ population for both years.

Inheritance patterns for table grape anthocyanins were investigated on three cross offspring populations during two successive years. Sixteen anthocyanins were detected, and all were monoglucoside derivatives. The proportion of anthocyanins in the maternal parent determined the proportion of anthocyanins in the offspring. But the absolute content of the maternal parent had no significant effect on progenies. Peonidin 3-O-glucoside and malvidin 3-O-glucoside were the most abundant anthocyanins, not only in the maternal parent but also in the progenies. The presence or absence of anthocyanins in grape skin was inheritance of a quality character controlled by oligogenes, and anthocyanins content was a quantitative character controlled by polygenes. Via principal component (PC) analysis, factors that affected the total content of cross progeny populations were peonidin 3-O-glucoside, malvidin 3-O-glucoside, delphinidin 3-O-glucoside, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, petunidin 3-O-glucoside, peonidin 3-O-(6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside, and malvidin 3-O-(6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside. Anthocyanins content was a high broad sense heritability character (H2), and H2 was stable in different cross combinations (ranging from 0.65 to 0.98).