Inbreeding in California Canning Clingstone Peach Cultivars

Abstract

The inbreeding coefficients of commercially important canning clingstone peach [ Prunus persica(L). Batsch] cultivars developed in California were found to be relatively low based on pedigree analysis using the SAS INBREED procedure. However, coefficients of co-ancestry between the likely parents of future generations reveal an increasing probability of inbreeding. This increased probability is primarily the consequence of past usage of a small number of presumably unrelated parents in early crosses, and extensive use of their progeny as parents in subsequent crosses.