GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SMALL-FRUIT MUTANT IN JAPANESE PERSIMMON (DIOSPYROS KAKI THUNB.)

Fruit size is one of the most important traits affecting the economical value of fruit.
In persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.), somatic mutation or bud sport mutation that affects fruit size is frequently observed.
Recently, a small-fruit mutant, ‘Totsutanenashi’ (TTN), which originated from one of the leading cultivar ‘Hiratanenashi’ (HTN) in Japan, was discovered.
In this report, we characterized morphological characteristics of TTN and HTN plants, aiming to elucidate the nature of the difference between these cultivars.
Determination of ploidy levels of fruit tissue demonstrated that both TTN and HTN fruits are nonaploid plants, indicating ploidy mutation is not associated with small-fruit mutation.
TTN flowers opened approximately one week earlier than HTN, resulting in flowering with smaller ovary than that HTN. Fruit weight of TTN was approximately 1/3 of that of HTN at commercial harvest period.
Growth characteristics of TTN bearing small fruits would be considered as valuable genetic resource because small fruit might be able to meet the various needs of consumers.
The usefulness of TTN for studying the genes controlling fruit size is discussed.

XII EUCARPIA Symposium on Fruit Breeding and Genetics

H. Yamane, M. Ichiki, R. Tao

bud sport, flow cytometry, fruit size, kaki, ploidy, somatic mutation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.814.55