Horticultural Science and Technology ISSN:1226-8763(Print) 2465-8588(Online) 원예과학기술지

To improve the breeding efficiency of oriental pear, the inheritance of major fruit traits were analyzed using 4,035 seedlings of 15 cross combinations combined with 13 cultivars. Yearly variation of parental cultivars, broad-sense heritability of the traits, and frequency of seedlings with commercially acceptable characteristics by the mid-parent values were studied. Despite the heritabilities of traits related with pear the fruit texture were different depending on cross combination, the average narrow-sense heritability (h²) for firmness, flesh hardness, flesh density and grit were over 0.6, a relatively high value. However fruit firmness showed different heritability among the cross combination and its value of cross combination between ‘Niitaka’ and ‘Choju’ was very low as 0.11. Positive correlation was not observed on fresh hardness, fresh density and grit but observed on firmness between mid-parent value and average value of offspring. Regression of offspring on firmness, fresh hardness, fresh density and grit between mid-parent value and average value of offspring were 0.778, 0.343, -0.273, 0.313, respectively. Frequency distributions of fruit texture in 15 cross combinations of pear seedling was influenced by parental characteristics. When fruit firmness was estimated as low, low × high and high × high values in parental fruits, firmness in their offspring exhibited low, medium and high, respectively. In addition, when parental grit by sensory evaluation were light × light and light- medium × medium-heavy, most of offsprings showed light and medium grit, respectively.