Genetic Diversity of North American Strawberry Cultivars

Abstract

Abstract Pedigrees of 134 North American strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cultivars introduced since 1960 were used to calculate 1) the genetic contribution of founding clones to these cultivars; 2) genetic relatedness among these cultivars; and 3) inbreeding coefficients of these cultivars. Fifty-three founding clones accounted for the pedigrees of these cultivars, with a mean genetic contribution ranging from <0.1% to 11%. Cultivars were clustered according to the genetic contribution into groups strongly related to geographic region of origin. Cultivars developed in California plus those derived in large part from California germplasm were a distinct cluster. The remaining cultivars divided strongly into two geographical divisions, with cultivars of a western or northern origin primarily in the first division, and cultivars of a southern or eastern origin primarily in the 2nd division. Cluster groups within each division also were related to the region of origin of cultivars. Cultivars also were clustered on the basis of Wright’s coefficient of relationship, a measure of genetic relatedness. Cluster groups from this analysis were strongly related to region of origin of cultivars, and were similar in content to groups based on genetic contributions. Inbreeding coefficients ranged from 0.0 to 0.875, but were <0.5 for all cultivars developed from cross-fertilization. Inbreeding coefficients were related partly to region of origin of the cultivars, but this relationship was probably an indirect result of unequal numbers of generations of controlled hybridization from common ancestors. For example, cultivars developed in California, which resulted from more generations of hybridization, generally had higher inbreeding coefficients. Strategies are suggested for maintaining and increasing genetic diversity of North American breeding populations.