Recombinant lines obtained from an interspecific cross among Lycopersicon species selected by fruit weight and fruit shelf life

RODRÍGUEZ, GUSTAVO RUBÉN; PRATTA, GUILLERMO RAUL; ZORZOLI, ROXANA; PICARDI, LILIANA AMELIA

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE

AMER SOC HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE

Año: 2006 vol. 131 p. 651 - 656

0003-1062

A cross was performed between cultivar ‘Caimanta’ of Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill.) and accession LA722 of L. pimpinellifolium (Jusl.). Divergent-antagonistic selection for fruit weight and shelf life started in the F2 generation. Fruit shelf life showed transgressive segregation in this F2 generation. The selection process continued until the F6 generation, but we found that only fruit weight was responsive to selection. Seventeen recombinant lines (RILs) were analyzed for both traits. Nine of these RILs were obtained by the selection process. The other eight RILs were obtained by selfing without selection from the same F2 generation to assess random drift. Highly significant differences were found among these RILs for both fruit weight and shelf life. Random drift was as important as selection in producing different genotypes. Although fruit shelf life showed null response to selection in this interspecific cross, selfing and selecting has generated a new population of 17 recombinant genotypes for both fruit weight and shelf life. This experiment has demonstrated that wild tomato species offer breeders another possibility to enhance the genetic variability for fruit shelf life and fruit weight in tomato germplasm.