A. R. Biggs, N. W. Miles, and R. L. Bell, West Virginia University, University Experiment Farm, P. O. Box 609, Kearneysville, WV 25430, Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario, P.O. Box 7000, Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada, L0R 2E0, and U.S.D.A. - A.R.S., Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory, Kearneysville, WV 25430.

ABSTRACT (Copyright © American Phytopathological Society)

Biggs, A. R., Miles, N. W., and Bell, R. L. 1992. Heritability of suberin accumulation in wounded peach bark. Phytopathology 82:83-86.

Controlled reciprocal crosses among peach clones V68101, V68051, and New Jersey Cling (NJC) 95 were performed during spring 1985. Parental clones and seedlings from the crosses were planted at two sites in May, 1986. Wounding studies were conducted during June 1989 to quantify suberin accumulation in healthy phloem/cortex tissues adjacent to the wound site. Differences in suberin accumulation among the three parent clones were significant, whereas all environmental sources of variation and their interactions with parent clone were not significant. Suberization of V68101 was significantly greater than NJC 95 and V68051, which did not differ from each other. Suberization response in the three families involving V68101 were not significantly different from each other, and the remaining three families also were not significantly different from each other. The full-sib family heritability of 0.93 ± 0.31 reflects the significance of differences among full-sib family means. For hybrids, the individual tree heritability of 0.56 ± 0.24 indicates that approximately 55% of the phenotypic variability is accounted for by genotype. Genetic factors are sufficiently large to allow for selection for increased suberization response.