Abstract
Drought is one of the major abiotic factors that affect potato production in the tropics and sub-tropics. Molecular plant breeding offers promising opportunities for developing drought tolerant cultivars, but genetic gains to be achieved through breeding depends strongly on the genetic variance and heritability of traits used in the selection process. In the present study, genetic variance and heritability of tuber yield and its components were estimated in the native potato cultivar group Andigenum, expected to include promising drought tolerant progenitors. Twenty-seven full sib families obtained from crossing 18 parents arranged in 3 mating sets were grown under irrigated and terminal drought conditions. Heritability for tuber yield, estimated from female to male variance components was 0.68 and 0.41, respectively, in the irrigated treatment, and only 0.18 and 0.06 under drought conditions. Tuber number was highly significantly correlated to tuber yield but the heritability of this trait (estimated both from female to male variance) was lower than yield heritability and its non-additive genetic variance was higher than its additive genetic variance, particularly when estimated from the female variance component. Heritability of average weight per tuber estimated for male variance component was very high under both irrigated and drought conditions. Its additive genetic variance was much higher than its non-additive genetic variance. However, average weight per tuber correlated to tuber yield within parents but not within families. These results indicate that selection for increased tuber yield under drought conditions in the Andigenum cultivar group may be slow due to its low heritability and high value of non-additive genetic variance. They also suggest that yield components may not be useful as indirect selection criterion for yield, because of their low heritability and/or poor association with yield. The identification of drought tolerance related traits with high heritability and closely associated to tuber yield under drought is consequently required to improve adaptation of potato to drought-prone conditions and efficient utilization of Andigenum potatoes for this purpose.
Resumen
La sequía es uno de los factores abióticos principales que afectan la producción de papa en los trópicos y subtrópicos. El mejoramiento molecular de plantas ofrece oportunidades prometedoras para desarrollar variedades tolerantes a la sequía, pero las ganancias genéticas a lograr a través del mejoramiento, dependen fuertemente de la varianza genética y de la heredabilidad de los caracteres usados en el proceso de selección. En el presente estudio, se estimaron la varianza genética y la heredabilidad del rendimiento de tubérculo y sus componentes en variedades nativas de papa del grupo Andigenum, esperando que se incluyeran progenitores prometedores tolerantes a la sequía. A 27 familias completas obtenidas del cruzamiento de 18 progenitores arreglados en tres juegos de apareamiento, se les cultivó bajo condiciones de riego y de sequía terminal. La heredabilidad para rendimiento de tubérculo, estimada de los componentes de varianza de machos y hembras, fue de 0.68 y 0.41, respectivamente, en el tratamiento con riego, y solo de 0.18 y 0.06 bajo condiciones de agobio hídrico. El número de tubérculos estuvo alta y significativamente correlacionado al rendimiento, pero la heredabilidad de este carácter (estimada de la varianza, tanto de hembras como de machos) fue más baja que la heredabilidad de rendimiento, y su varianza genética no aditiva fue más alta que su varianza genética aditiva, particularmente cuando se estimó del componente de varianza femenino. La heredabilidad del promedio del peso por tubérculo, estimada para el componente de varianza masculino, fue muy alta bajo ambas condiciones, de riego y de sequía. Su varianza genética aditiva fue mucho más alta que la no aditiva. No obstante, el promedio de peso por tubérculo se correlacionó con rendimiento de tubérculo entre progenitores pero no dentro de las familias. Estos resultados indican que la selección para aumento del rendimiento de tubérculo bajo condiciones de sequía en las variedades del grupo Andigenum pudiera ser lenta debido a su baja heredabilidad y al alto valor de la varianza genética no aditiva. También sugieren que los componentes de rendimiento pudieran no ser de utilidad como criterio indirecto de selección para rendimiento, debido a su baja heredabilidad y/o su pobre asociación con rendimiento. Se requiere, consecuentemente, la identificación de caracteres relacionados a la tolerancia a la sequía con alta heredabilidad y estrechamente asociados al rendimiento de tubérculo bajo agobio hídrico, para mejorar la adaptación de la papa a condiciones propicias a la falta de agua y utilización eficiente de las papas Andigenum para este propósito.
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The authors acknowledge support from Karina Valverde, and Enrique Chujoy during the experimental design, field evaluations and analysis of data.
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Cabello, R., Monneveux, P., Bonierbale, M. et al. Heritability of Yield Components Under Irrigated and Drought Conditions in Andigenum Potatoes. Am. J. Potato Res. 91, 492–499 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-014-9379-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-014-9379-7