Breeding pomegranate for fruit attributes and resistance to bacterial blight

Sixteen F₁ and 10 F₂ families and progenies of 9 multiple pomegranate hybrids of 14 parents were evaluated for fruit weight, skin colour, aril colour, total soluble solids (TSS) and seed mellowness for 5 generations. Additionally, 4 varieties and 18 hybrid progenies were assessed for reaction to bacterial blight. Fruits weighing as low as 39g and as high as 658g with TSS ranging from 8.6 to 18.8⁰B were observed in the hybrids. Likewise, recombinants appeared with a gradation for seed mellowness, fruit skin and aril colour cultivars. Gulsha Rose Pink and Lupania deciduous Russian temperate varieties were found to carry dominant genes for dark red arils, but their progeny produced smaller fruits while Daru, a sub-temperate Indian variety was a valuable source for bacterial blight resistance. The F₂ progeny of Ganesh x Gulsha Rose Pink produced fruits having dark red and red arils but with low TSS. The resistance for bacterial blight was governed by recessive alleles in Daru while that of Nana an ornamental pomegranate was controlled by dominant alleles. The overall segregation pattern revealed a polygenic control of fruit attributes. Generally, greater segregation with more recombinants was recorded in F₂ than in F₁.