Blossom blight resistance in peach: heritability and segregation in progenies from reciprocal crosses

ABSTRACT Blossom blight and brown rot caused by Monilinia fructicola is the most important peach disease in Brazil. Genetic resistance is a control strategy that is gaining importance in breeding programs worldwide. This study aimed to identify genotypes with higher levels of blossom blight resistance to estimate the heritability of this character; study the frequency distribution in populations; and test the possibility of maternal effect. Blossom blight susceptibility was tested in reciprocal hybridizations seedlings, as well as their parents. The detached flower technique was used in a randomized complete block design, considering each genotype as a treatment. Flower inoculation was made by spraying a M. fructicola suspension and evaluations were carried out after 72 and 120 hours using a scale of five severity levels. The studied populations presented low phenotypic variability regarding the flower resistance/susceptibility to M. fructicola, being most of them susceptible or very susceptible. Among the tested genotypes, the cultivars Maciel and Cerrito showed less blossom blight susceptibility, transmitting this character to their progenies. Heritability estimates of the blossom blight resistance were medium to low. The low heritability and its distribution in the progenies suggest that the character has additive inheritance, without detecting deviations associated with maternal effects.