Home > XV International Citrus Congress > The mandarin breeding program at CREA, Italy

Articles

The mandarin breeding program at CREA, Italy

Article number

1448_13

Pages

105 – 112

Language

English

Abstract

CREA is involved in a mandarin breeding program aimed at the selection of new seedless and easy-peeling mandarin cultivars for the Italian citrus industry.
From the 1970s to the 2010s activities were almost exclusively based on generating triploids, while more recently the efforts focused on diploid hybrids trying to combine anthocyanin pigmentation, seedlessness, and resistance to Alternaria alternata. Since 2015, 107 parent combinations have been used, generating more than 8,000 hybrids.
Since 2018, molecular markers for anthocyanin pigmentation (based on the Ruby gene) and A. alternata brown spot resistance have been routinely used to test 6,780 hybrids.
The screening for A. alternata resistance was performed using CAPS genotyping or HRM analysis of a SNP associated with the resistance locus (SNP08). A total of 3,816 hybrids resulting from crosses with parents susceptible to A. alternata were screened, and 1,830 were potentially resistant.
Ten out of 16 crosses displayed a distorted segregation (p<0.05). The screening for Ruby was performed by conventional PCR. A total of 2,961 hybrids were generated, of which 1,495 were potentially pigmented.
Distorted segregation was observed in all populations with 2b-6-16 (a ‘Clementine’ × ‘Moro’ hybrid), and in some specific populations with ‘Sun Red’ and ‘Moro’ (p values <0.05). MAS has enabled the selection of new pigmented and/or A. alternata-resistant hybrids, improving the efficiency of the selection process.
In the last 4 years, more than 4,000 hybrids have been propagated and planted.

Publication

XV International Citrus Congress

Authors

M. Cortese, C. Arlotta, D. Porrello, R. Russo, F. Salonia, D. Pietro Paolo, A. Ciacciulli, C. Licciardello, M.C. Strano, M. Scirè, A. Trovato, G. Russo, M. Caruso

Keywords

Alternaria brown spot, anthocyanins, hybrids, seedlessness, cultivars

Full text

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1448.13

Groups involved

Division Tropical and Subtropical Fruit and Nuts

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