2025/07/08 by Roohollah Abdolshahi, Craig Hardner, Dorrie Main +3 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Berry genetics and cultivation research #Fungal Plant Pathogen Control #Powdery Mildew Fungal Diseases
paper · doi:10.21273/hortsci18637-25
openalex publication_date 2025/07/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Limited genetic diversity, compounded by repeated use of elite parents and decreased breeding efforts, poses challenges for rabbiteye blueberry ( Vaccinium virgatum Aiton) improvement. To facilitate more efficient rabbiteye breeding in the future, this study aims to assess the genetic diversity of rabbiteye cultivars through pedigree analysis and evaluate the impact of interspecific hybridization on modern cultivars. The pedigree data of 180 rabbiteye blueberry accessions were analyzed to calculate inbreeding coefficients, coefficients of coancestry and the genetic contribution of founders. Five founders, ‘Myers’, ‘Black Giant’, ‘Ethel’, ‘Clara’, and ‘W4’, collectively account for a minimum of 73% of the genetic composition of rabbiteye cultivars. The level of interspecific hybridization has been limited in rabbiteye breeding, with Vaccinium corymbosum contributing 3% of the genetic composition of rabbiteye cultivars and 1% from other species such as Vaccinium constablaei and Vaccinium darrowii . The narrow genetic base and repeated use of common parents led to an increase in inbreeding coefficients, from an average of less than 0.0002 before 1980 to 0.014 in the 2000s. In the future, it would be valuable to increase the use of exotic materials from other species or within the rabbiteye germplasm to broaden the genetic base while introducing valuable alleles.